Lincoln Loud :1975
by sky3427
Summary: Lincoln wakes up and finds himself not in his own time anymore, He woke up in the year 1975. Now, he has to figure out how to get back home. At least he's met a nice family to help him out. I don't own The Loud House, Viacom does.
1. Chapter 1

** AN: So, I got this idea for a story and wrote out the first chapter and sat on it for a while to think if I liked the idea enough to publish it. Anyway, here's a strange idea with time travel with Lincoln, hope you enjoy! **

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A boy was walking home from school on a nice autumn day where the leaves crunched under his shoes as he walked through the park. In a pile of leaves, he saw something strange sticking out. "What's this?" he asked himself. As he got closer he noticed it looked like a hand, was it a body? Was it an early Halloween prank? He carefully moved the leaves and saw there was an arm with an orange sleeved shirt. When the wind pushed some of the leaves off he saw a face, a face with freckles and on its head, white hair? He jumped a little, seeing a body was not something he wanted to do. "Are they alive?" he thought. Nervously, he tapped the body with his foot. It started to move and it got up, he wasn't dead. The body was a boy with white hair wearing an orange polo shirt he yawned and looked around.

"Huh? Why am I in the park?" the boy in the leaves asked.

"You don't - know why you are in the park?", the other boy asked.

"No, one minute I'm in my bedroom and now I wake up in the park."

"Do you have amnesia?"

"No, I don't think so, my name is Lincoln Loud, yep don't have amnesia," Lincoln said.

"Why, did you add the word loud to your name?"

"That's my last name," Lincoln replied.

He got up and brushed off the leaves from his body and looked around. The boy standing in front of him was wearing blue overalls with black and white athletic shoes, and a long-sleeved t-shirt with red and white stripes. His hair was hazel and shaggy, covering his ears and running to his collar in the back and bangs covered his forehead. His eyes were brown and had some freckles on his face.

"So, who are you?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh, my name is Ricky, Ricky Pearson," he said.

"I've not seen you around town before, are you new?" Lincoln asked.

"No, I've lived here all my life, I've not seen you before," he said.

"Where do you go to school?" Lincoln asked.

"Royal Woods Elementary, 5th grade," Ricky replied.

"I've not seen you around school, and I'm in 5th grade."

"Are you sure you don't have amnesia?"

Lincoln patted his pockets with his hands and found he had his phone in his pocket. He looked at the time it was 2:53 PM.

"What is that?" Ricky asked.

"What is what?" Lincoln asked.

"That thing in your hands."

"My phone?"

"Phone? How is that a phone it's not even connected to anything."

The Loud boy wondered if Ricky was joking or had never seriously had seen a cell phone. Maybe he was dreaming because people don't randomly wake up in the park if they were in their room. He pinched himself and it hurt.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Ricky asked.

"Yeah, I was just wondering if I was dreaming," Lincoln said.

"Oh."

"That's strange, I can't make a call with my phone."

"Can I see it?"

"I guess so."

Ricky looked at the phone. It didn't have buttons and it had pictures of a superhero with some logos covering it up.

"Hey, Lincoln that's the time, right?"

"Yeah."

"What's that under it, is that supposed to be the date?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's wrong it's October 9, 1975."

"What?" Lincoln started to laugh thinking that Ricky was joking.

"What's so funny?"

"You got me, 1975, that's funny."

"Is there something wrong with you? Maybe you should come with me to get checked out."

"Well, I could just go home."

"Please, come with me," Ricky said in a long sung out kind of way.

Lincoln sighed and chose to follow Ricky to his house. The strange thing was as they walked the pattern seemed familiar for him. When they crossed to Franklin Avenue it puzzled him. Did this kid live on the same street? He hadn't seen him before so, how was that possible? Eventually Lincoln saw his house, it looked the same but different. It was cleaner, the paint was fresher, and there wasn't a van in the driveway but, there was an old station wagon that looked like it had well persevered through time. In fact, Lincoln had seen a lot of older cars than normal.

"Here we are Lincoln, my house," Ricky said.

"What are you talking about? This is my house, I live here, it's 1216 Franklin Avenue, hold on."

Lincoln pulled out his phone again and showed Ricky a picture of his family standing in front of the house.

"Your house looks like mine, then, that's kind of freaky. Who are those other kids?"

"My sisters."

"All, 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 of them?"

"Yeah, I have ten sisters."

"Wow and I thought having 2 brothers and 2 sisters was a lot, also how did you get a photo on that thing?"

"Ricky, you weren't kidding were you? It's really 1975?"

"Yeah . all year, man."

"If that's true, then I woke up in the past, I'm from the future Ricky!"

"Woah that's rad, wait that doesn't make sense."

"Think about it, you don't know what this is, you are living in my house and everything is different to me."

"So, that would explain why you lying in the leaves from the get-go. Do you know how to get back to your time?"

"I don't even know how I got here!"

"Well come on, no use being out here let's go inside!"

Inside the house seemed calmer than what Lincoln was used to it was like a different house. In fact, it was different in many ways. The living room was still in the same spot but the furniture was different, the matching couch and chairs were orange, the wallpaper was green and white stripes. There was a grandfather clock in the corner. Sitting on the couch was Ricky's mother, a woman with the same color hair that Ricky had she had her hair in a pony-tail, she was wearing a Carpenters t-shirt with blue jeans.

"Mom!" Ricky yelled.

"Hey Ricky, hold for a commercial break," she said.

"It's 3 o'clock, she's watching "General Hospital," Ricky said to Lincoln.

"Not today, today I'm watching Another World," his mother corrected.

"Isn't that show an hour?"

"Yes, I know I'm going to miss One Life to Live, if only there was a way to watch two different shows, well I could bring the kitchen TV to the, who's this?"

"Oh, Mom, this is Lincoln, Lincoln Loud."

"Hello, Ricky's Mom," Lincoln said.

"Come over here, so I can shake your hand, there's not much time between commercials."

"Mom, he's from the future!" Ricky exclaimed.

"Ah playing a game, that's nice, well you can stay here until you have to go home to your folks."

"That's the problem, he's stuck here and his folks aren't here."

"That would be a good story, you should write that."

"Lincoln, show her the phone."

Lincoln handed the woman the phone she flipped it upside down, under, twisted it around, pressed buttons on the side and front.

"What is this?" she asked.

"It's a future phone they apparently made them without buttons, isn't that funky?"

"That doesn't prove he's from the future, even if it is a strange thing."

"Look, show her the picture of the house, Lincoln," Ricky prompted.

"He lives in an orphanage? No wait, that's our house, well it's kind of messed up, but that doesn't explain… OK future boy, do you have any money?"

"Mom?"

"Oh, look at this, a twenty-dollar bill, why is it this color? And, well look at this it says 2011 for the year stamp."

She handed Lincoln back his money and had a puzzled expression on her face.

"In the future, they finally accomplished time travel, that's probably why we have all these moon trips. So, who won, the Soviets or the Americans?"

"Won, what?" Lincoln asked.

"Ricky, well I guess he can stay here until whatever, but we'll have to talk to your father when he gets home," she said.

"Groovy, thanks, Mom."

"Now, let me watch my show!"

The two boys walked through the dining room which still looked like a dining room but had a strange brown and white wallpaper. The next room, the kitchen, had a strange flowery wallpaper. The appliances were brown and cream there was a theme. The tile was the same as Lincoln remembered and things were in the same place but that was it.

"That was easier than I thought," Lincoln said,

"Well we were cutting into her show so, she hurried along, my big brother likes to use that time to ask her something sometimes," Ricky replied.

"In speaking of that, I haven't seen any of your siblings, so far," Lincoln replied.

"Oh, they might be outside somewhere or upstairs, Do you want a fruit pie?"

"Sure."

Ricky handed Lincoln a packaged fruit pie he got from a box.

"Your Mom, seems nice, how is your dad?" Lincoln asked.

"He's cool, if you are worried about him not believing you, well the phone might convince him."

Upstairs, Ricky decided to give Lincoln a tour, because things wouldn't be the exact same. The first room was the one to the left-hand turn on the stairs, which was Lori and Leni's room.

"This one is Russel's room he's the oldest kid in the house," Ricky replied.

He turned the knob and showed Lincoln the room.

"Russel is kind of messy," Ricky said.

The next room, right across the hall that was Luna and Luna's room.

"This room is for the youngest kid in the house, Sherry, she's six."

He opened the door and there was his sister, wearing a mouse costume. Otherwise, having the same hair color as her brother placed in pig-tails.

"Sherry, this is Lincoln, he's from the future," Ricky said.

"Oh, squeak, nice to meet you, squeak," Sherry said.

"Uhh same here," Lincoln said.

"Do you like mice, mice are groovy, you should meet Spangles. Squeak," she said.

She pointed at a cage holding a black pet mouse.

"That's Spangles, squeak, he's a mouse," she replied.

"Does she always talk like that?" Lincoln whispered to Ricky.

"Only, when she's dressed like a mouse."

"Uhh, Sherry we don't have much time, I have homework to do and Lincoln needs to see the rest of the house since he's gonna be stayin' here until he figures out how to get back to his time."

"Oh, squeak, he can sleep in my closet, if he needs a spot, squeak."

They left the room and stopped at the next room, which was Lynn and Lucy's room during Lincoln's time.

"This is my little brother's room, I think he's out with his friends so, we'll see him later."

Lincoln was kind of amused that the room wasn't painted half black and yet there was still some sports stuff like a hockey poster on the wall, in the room. The next room. the twin Loud girls room, was where they stopped next.

"This is my room," Ricky said with pride.

He opened the door, and the two of them walked in. It was painted a light purple color. The bed was the right-hand side, the same spot Lola has hers, a desk in place of the makeup table, a bookshelf and a stand with a TV on it in place of Lana's bed.

"I have my own TV, it's not big like downstairs, but it comes in handy when someone wants to watch something and downstairs is crowded," Ricky said.

After showing off the room there was still a little more.

"Oh, I guess you know where the bathroom is," Ricky replied.

"Yeah, so what's this room used for?", Lincoln asked.

"Room? Oh, the closet, we put towels, bed stuff, and the vacuum cleaner in there," Ricky replied.

"I guess there are enough rooms for each person to have their own so, the closet doesn't get used as a bedroom, it's my room in the future," Lincoln said.

"What? You sleep in a closet, your family hates you?"

"Oh, no, I'm the only boy in the house and the middle child, all my sisters share their rooms, and I get my own space."

"Guess, you couldn't fit two people in a closet, oh this room across from mine, is my twin sister's."

"You have a twin?"

"Yep, her name is Susan, we won't bug her now since she's probably napping."

"She takes naps?'

"Yeah, she gets sleepy during the day, so she takes a nap after getting home."

"Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she might just need to cut back on staying up past her bedtime. She's a neat sister though."

Russel had come home and run up the stairs to the bathroom to wash up for dinner. "Russel, tell your siblings to come done for dinner!" his mother yelled from downstairs. He wiped his hands on the towel and knocked on Sherry's door.

"Yes, squeak," Sherry said.

"Hey rat girl, wash your hands and come downstairs for dinner," he said.

"I'm not a rat, I'm a mouse, there's a difference!" she yelled.

"I really don't care," Russel said.

He went to knock on the next door. "Bobby, open the door!", he said. "Bobby!"

Then he opened the door and his little brother wasn't in there. "Mom!"

"What?!", she yelled.

"Where's Robert?" he asked.

"He has 5 minutes before he's in trouble and late," she said.

Then knocked on Susan's door. "Susan, dinner time." After that, he walked to Ricky's room and knocked on that door. "Rick, dinner time."

Meanwhile, downstairs the middle Pearson brother, Robert, who went by the name Bobby, had entered the house. He had the same hazel brown hair color that went down past his ears, a little past his collar, he was wearing black overalls with a white long-sleeved shirt under it well at some point it was white but now covered in some dirt. He was wearing red and white sneakers. His face had freckles on his face and wore red plastic-framed glasses.

"Robert! You were almost late!" his mother said.

"Sorry Mom," he said then gave a smile showing a couple missing teeth.

"You are going to need a bath tonight, I see," she said.

"Look, what I found," he said.

He held up a watch that had a green band and blue base, it also had some number buttons on it as well.

"What a strange watch," she said.

"Yeah, but I think it's broken," Bobby said.

"Hmm, give it to me and I'll get it checked out tomorrow," she said.

"Thanks, Mom, you're the best," he said.

"Well go wash your hands and face for dinner," she replied.

"Mom, remember I have my sleepover tomorrow," Susan said.

"Yes, I know, I'll bring your sleeping bag over to Christine's house so, you won't have to carry it to school tomorrow," she said.

"Thanks, Mom," Susan replied.

Bobby and Russel ran down the stairs like they were in a race. Followed by Sherry, still in her costume, acting like a curious mouse.

"Meow!" Russel went.

"Eeek!" Sherry went as she ran to hide behind a chair.

Mrs. Pearson rolled her eyes.

"Come on Sherry, stop playing it's dinner time," she said.

"But the cat," Sherry replied.

"Come on and get to the dining room before I make you take off that costume and I'll give it to a thrift store!"

"No, Mom, please don't, see I'm going to the dining room!"

Ricky and Lincoln walked into the dining room where everyone was sitting.

"Hey, how come Ricky gets to have a friend over for dinner!" Susan complained.

"Hey kid, your hair is groovy," Russel said.

"First off Sue-zan, he's stuck here, and Lincoln, that boy there is my brother, Russel, and that is my other brother, Bobby," Ricky said.

"Nice to meet you all," Lincoln said.

"Sit down, it's almost time to eat, we are just waiting for to come home," said Mrs. Pearson.

"What you mean he's stuck here?" Susan asked.

"Is he a Soviet spy, here to take away Susan's rights?", Bobby asked.

"Why my rights?" Susan asked.

"Because you aren't using them anyway," Bobby said.

"That's not true, she uses her rights all the time, she rights on paper with pens," Sherry said.

"That's a different spelling, Sherry," Russel said.

"Mice don't know the difference," Sherry said.

"So, why is he here anyway?" Russel questioned.

"He's from over 40 Years in the future and woke up in a pile of leaves," Ricky said.

The reactions ranged, with a groan from Russel, laughter from Susan, Bobby was awed, and Sherry was confused.

"Mom, what's going on?" Russel asked.

"It sounds screwy but, it seems that he might not from here," she said.

"You can't be serious," Russel replied.

"Show them the phone, Lincoln," Ricky said.

"I hope I have enough power, I don't think my charger made it with me," Lincoln said.

Lincoln showed the family the phone. Susan was the first, she was trying to press on the screen.

"You called that thing a phone, it's not very phone like," she said.

"Let me see that," Russel said.

He pressed the button on the side while holding the backside up and then the flash went off.

"Woah, it must have a security thing," he said.

"No, that's my camera, you just took a picture," Lincoln explained.

"This thing takes pictures? How do you take out the film?"

Lincoln took the phone back and showed him the picture. The blond-haired Pearson boy was looking confused with the flash on his face in the image.

"It's like an instant camera, but the picture doesn't come out," Russel said, "But I wish it had come out better."

"Here, stay still and smile," Lincoln said.

Lincoln took another picture of Russel.

"Oh, I hope I'm not wasting your film," Russel said.

"Don't worry, I have enough pictures, you can take thousands of pictures, my sister, Lori is proof of that," he said.

"I look good, as always," Russel said.

"I noticed something, you are the only one here with blonde hair," Lincoln said.

"That's because he died, squeak," Sherry said.

"Dyed-it," her mother corrected.

"He should make his head like Kojack's," Susan joked.

"Only if you do it first, Susan," he said.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Guess what else I found today, Mom?", Bobby said.

"It better not be anything that shouldn't be at the table, Robert," she said.

"I don't know if it should be at the table or not," Bobby said.

"Just show me it," she said with an annoyed tone.

"It looks like a plug that broke off a lamp or TV or something, but it comes apart here too," he said.

"Wait, can I see that?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure," Bobby said.

Lincoln knew what it was, it was a phone charger and it fit his phone.

"Where'd you find this?", he asked.

"In the park in some leaves," Bobby replied.

"I think this is my phone charger," Lincoln said.

"If it's yours, take it, can you take my picture too?"

entered the house.

"I'm home!", he yelled, "Give me a second to wash my hands and stuff, and be there for dinner."

"So, how are we going to tell Dad, Mom?" Ricky asked.

"I hope the phone would convince him that Lincoln is at least far away from home," she said.

"I'm sure Dad will really understand that this random kid is a time traveler," Susan said sarcastically.

"Not a very good one, he doesn't even have his time machine, usually those things are broken when someone gets stuck in a different time zone. Either that or like Zap Martin, it gets taken by some bad guys," Bobby said.

"H-Hope nobody is after him," Sherry said.

"If 40 years in the future, people have time machines, shouldn't someone who knows him can pick him up then?" Russel asked.

"Well, we don't exactly have time machines in my time, though my sister Lisa could make one. Thing is, I don't know if they know I'm gone, or stuck 40 years in the past," Lincoln responded.

"Woah, he's lost in time," Bobby said.

"You have sisters, huh?" Susan asked.

"Yeah, I have ten sisters," Lincoln said.

"Are your parents, mice?", Sherry asked.

"I can show you a picture of all of us," Lincoln said.

He found a picture of them all them on the couch, in the Loud house.

"That's our living room," Bobby said.

"You live in our house?" Russel asked.

"Apparently so," Lincoln said.

"How long have you lived there?" Russel asked.

"All my life, so 11 years," he said.

"Neat, he's our age, Ricky," Susan replied.

"What are your sisters' names, Lincoln," Mrs. Pearson asked.

"Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan,Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lilly," he said.

"I see a theme there, uh, how old is your eldest sister?" she asked.

"17," Lincoln replied.

"So, she's lived there all her life, as well?" She asked.

"Yes, Ma`am," Lincoln said.

Mr. Pearson walked into the dining room, kissed his wife and took his spot at the table.

"Well, sounds like we have some conversation going on here," he said.

"Hey, Dad, we have a time traveler from the future in our, right now," Bobby said in an excited tone.

Russel elbowed him.

"Oh, hello there, time traveler," the man said to Lincoln.

"Wait, you believe he's a time traveler, Dad?" Russel asked.

Bobby elbowed him.

"I'm playing along with your game," he said.

"This is going to sound strange, Dear, but it seems that this boy is not from our time, he has that thing over there that has pictures of our house but with his family, and it's a phone with a camera," his wife replied.

He looked at the phone plugged in the charger and smiled, "They sure are making advanced toys these days," he replied.

"It sounds impossible, but we aren't making it up," Susan chimed in.

"Ok, if he's from the future, then, the World Series starts on Saturday, who wins the whole thing: Cincinnati or Boston?" he asked.

"Well, Sir, I'm not into baseball, so I'm not sure, and I can't look it up on my phone because there's no internet," Lincoln admitted.

"Can I see that thing?", he asked.

Mr. Pearson looked at it like everyone else had, with a befuddled look that showed the confusion of his understanding of this device. Then he managed to take the back off and looked at the battery. There was a manufactured date on the battery, and the year wasn't 1975, it was many years after. He carefully put the back on again.

"Hope I didn't break it, it just seemed to be able to do that, somehow, can I ask you something, uh, what's your name?"

"Lincoln Loud."

"That's a last name?"

"Yes."

"So, you say you are from the future, how did you end up here? People don't usually go back in time."

"I don't know, I went to my bedroom and then blacked out and woke up in the park under some leaves."

"You understand that it's hard to believe, but seeing a date that hasn't happened yet on something that I've never known to exist is a good clue. Do you know who wins the election next year?"

"Who's the current president?"

"Gerald Ford."

It took Lincoln a minute to think, hopefully, something from history class would be in his memory.

"Jimmy Carter?"

"Jimmy Carter, really?"

Lincoln showed him pictures of his family in the same house they live in.

"Did we move or something?", Mr. Pearson asked.

"I'm not sure, I've lived in that house, or here, all my life," Lincoln said.

"Oh, we should eat before it gets cold, and I guess you can stay here until however this gets fixed," Mr. Pearson replied.

While the others were preparing for bed Lincoln went to the closet he knew as his bedroom and it felt like the whole realization of what happened pushed on him. Tears ran down his face at the fact that there's a possibility he might not see his family ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

** AN: Thank you for reading this story, I'm glad it was liked! **

** This chapter is more about Lincoln interacting with the family members, before he tries any attempts of figuring out how to get back to his time. I also hope you noticed the pattern with the Pearson kids' names when introduced last chapter. I also think he's broken every rule of time travel there is , but hey that's what happens. Also, I hope I'm not over-doing on the references , I don't wanna bog down the story with them, so hope I'm only splattering enough of them. Enough of this, enjoy the the chapter, and see ya next time. **

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It was the next day, Lincoln was awakened after he had slept the entire night on the floor of the closet. , or Katherine to be exact, had found him sleeping in the closet the night before and covered him with a blanket. This morning she woke him up after the others had gone to school and her husband had gone to work. She had him come downstairs for breakfast. Which was, bacon, eggs, and toaster waffles.

"I don't know how long you are going to be here, but as long as you are I would like you to know that you are welcome to stay as long as you want," she said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Pearson, that was very nice of you," Lincoln said.

"Think of us like family, any problems you have, you can tell me, my husband, my kids whoever you feel comfortable with. Especially, you are so far from your family and that's gotta be difficult," she said.

"That's really nice of you," Lincoln said.

After breakfast, Katherine told Lincoln she had clothes for him on Bobby's bed that he could change into after taking a shower. He changed into the tube socks, which were white with 3 green thick lines on top and went up only missing 3 inches to his knee cap, then he put on jeans that had stayed up thanks to the belt, and a long-sleeved striped green and white shirt. He put his clothing in Bobby's clothing bin as Katherine suggested. He checked his pockets to make sure he got his wallet, keys, phone, and phone charger out and into the other pants he was wearing. Katherine knocked on the door.

"Are you decent?" she asked.

"Yes," he called out.

She opened the door.

"Glad the clothes fit, they are Russel's old jeans, and Susan's shirt and socks. When I go to the store, I'm going to have to get you some of your own socks and underwear," she said.

"Do you do hand-me-downs?" he asked.

"Oh yes, well on things that survive long enough that is," she replied.

Katherine picked up the clothing basket and pushed the clothing down.

"Oh laundry day, so I'm washing your clothes here with Bobby's," she replied.

"Thank you, I guess they did get messy in the leaves and dirt from the park," he said.

"That is a strange place to wake up."

"Yeah, especially since my room was the last place I went to."

"Which room do you have in this house anyway?"

"The closet."

"Your family makes you sleep in a closet, or do people just sleep in smaller spots in the future?"

"Remember I said I had ten sisters?"

"Yes, you said that dinner last night."

"Well, there are 6 bedrooms in this house, and minus my parents they all have to share in groups of 2. This room here is shared by my sisters, Lynn and Lucy."

"So they converted a closet in a bedroom for you?"

"Exactly."

"Hmm, and this room isn't like the biggest room I'm surprised you have two people in here."

"Do you mind if I take some pictures of this room? I think my family will be surprised to see this room in the 1970s."

"Sure, I'm just going to bring these clothes downstairs to wash."

Lincoln walked around the 2nd floor of the house to take some pictures and some videos.

"Hey, can you go into Sherry's room and get her clothes' basket?"

"Sure."

He looked around and tried to remember the tour he had yesterday but it was to no avail.

"Which room is Sherry's again?"

"Oh, to go Bobby's room stand with your back facing his door, look left, it's that room."

"Thanks."

Lincoln opened the door, he remembered her room from the day before. It was painted dark pink. Her bed was in the same spot that Luan and Luan's bunk bed was. There was a way to tell what Sherry's favorite animal was as there were mice stuffed animals on her bed, a clock with a mouse wearing overalls, pictures of mice on the wall, mice slippers, and of course Spangles. He took some pictures of the room and Spangles and then grabbed her pink basket and walked downstairs.

"Ah, thanks to Lincoln," Katherine said.

"Is there anything else?" he asked.

"Uhhh, no not really, I'm only doing Bobby and Sherry's clothes today," she replied.

She looked inside the basket and pulled out Sherry's mouse costume.

"I have to be careful with this thing," she said, "You know, I have modified it enough, like cutting off the paw parts because she wanted to wear so much she still needed access to her hands. It doesn't have a top for her head, she has a head hand with mouse ears for that."

She put the costume back in the basket and walked away from Lincoln.

"Yeah, we are about to run some errands as soon I put this stuff downstairs."

"You want me to come with you?"

"Well, of course. If you are worried about the people wondering about you. I already have that covered: You are my cousin's son Lincoln, who is on a trip as she and her husband are on a second honeymoon."

"You have a whole backstory made up that quickly?"

"No, I thought of it last time, you're just lucky you aren't your own twin brother recovering from a coma."

Outside it was drizzling and the sky was a dark gray as the two of them went on her errands. It was still only 10 in the morning as well. She dropped a sleeping bag off for Susan's sleepover at a friend's later in the day, then they went to the store to pick up socks and underwear for Lincoln. Next, She took the watch Bobby found to a repairman. He said he would attend to it and for them to check back on Wednesday. Then they went to the grocery store. Finally, making it back to the house before 1 PM.

"Looks like we made it just before Ryan's Hope comes on," Katherine said, " Thanks for your help."

Katherine went to the basement to start her first load of laundry, while Lincoln looked out the window to see the rain falling again. It was a strange sight to see he was in his house but things didn't look the same outside or inside. Katherine walked into the living room.

"How about, I make us some lunch?" she said.

"That'll be good, I'm starving," he replied.

"Do you like grilled cheese sandwiches?" she asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln replied

"Comin' up," she said.

Lincoln could hear the sound of the kitchen television while she was in there making lunch. Eventually, the smell of the food made it through the house as well. She came out holding two cream-colored plates setting them on the table.

"Do you want a pop?" she asked.

"Sure," he replied.

"Ok, oh, could you put the TV on Channel 13 for me, please?"

He walked over the large TV encased in wood. It had two large knobs, the top one having numbers 2-13 on it and a letter U, the bottom one had numbers 14 to 82 on it. The first knob was tuned to U and the other was on the number 35. He turned one of the three smaller bottom knobs to turn the TV on, turned the top knob to 13.

"Good, you figured it out, I wonder do TV still look like this in the future?" she asked.

"No, they are flatter, and have remotes, " he replied.

"Oh, I would love a remote control, flat huh? Must save space," she said.

"Do these shows come on every day?" he asked.

"Yep, Ryan's Hope is new, I switch between shows on certain days, it's easier to stay on the same channel. Hey, we don't want those grilled cheese sandwiches to get cold, bring them in here, we watch TV together, we can watch Let's Make a Deal."

They played along with the game shows, during commercial breaks Katherine would check the laundry, ask Lincoln questions, or just talk to him.

"Do you watch things with your mom?" she asked.

"Uh once in a while, but not very much," he replied.

"That's right, you might be too old to do that. When the kids are in school it gets a little lonely around here sometimes. It got to me when Sherry started going to school that my day times are going to be a bit more solo," she said.

Lincoln didn't say anything he was just listening.

"Maybe your mother enjoys a little peace and quiet at home during the day, though," she added.

"My mom goes to work, both my parents work," Lincoln replied.

Katherine thought for a second. "I guess women working got more prevalent in the future, after all."

A little bit later on she got up to change the channel.

"Sorry Lincoln, I'm not a fan of that game show, you might enjoy The Doctors though, but if you want to do something else, you are free to go around the house, don't have to act like a stranger," she said.

"That's alright, I'm not sure what to do with the rain outside and stuff," he replied.

"When the Doctors comes, or The Edge of Night, the kids are on their way home, so you can be with them," she replied.

Lincoln brought up some of Bobby's laundry and helped Katherine organize it away in the room. Russel came in the house first, he put his wet umbrella down onto the floor. Before he could walk any further he was stopped by his mother.

"Russel, what are you doing?" she asked in a stern commanding voice.

"Uhh going to my room?" he said in a confused manner.

"I mean, you can't just walk through the house with those wet shoes and coat, dripping all over my floor," she said.

"Mom, it's like raining outside," he said.

"I'm aware of that, take off your shoes and coat, leave them there, then go traspe the house," she replied.

"Sorry, Mom," he said not wanting to argue with her. He took off his shoes and coat.

"I'm surprised you are home now, usually when you get your allowance you are out with friends on a Friday afternoon," she replied.

"Eh, the rain bummed everybody out and they didn't want to do anything, and I also wanted to see if our new guest was still here or booked it by now," he said.

"He' s upstairs, he helped me a lot today," she said.

"You didn't turn him into your slave did you?" the blond boy asked.

"Don't be silly, he seemed very willing to help, if he is here really long he's going to have to go to school though," she replied.

"What if they want his records, are you going to fudge them?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Well Mom, I guess I'll hang with him for a while, hope he's not lame or a weirdo."

"Don't be mean to him, he has nowhere to go."

"Like, I'm just Joshin', Mom."

He walked up the stairs and found Lincoln walking out of the bathroom.

"Hey, Dude, it's me, Russel," he said adding his name in case Lincoln forgot.

"Hey, nice to see you again," Lincoln said.

"Wow, you spent a whole day with my Mom, hope you weren't bored," he said.

"She's alright, but it was a boring day," Lincoln replied.

"Did you like fix your time machine, yet?", he asked.

"I didn't have a time machine, I just ended up time traveling somehow," Lincoln said.

"You may have to take a long way home," Russel said.

Lincoln tilted his head in confusion.

"You know, like eventually you'll make it back to the year you were living in, you'll be older but, you made it," Russel said.

The thought he would have to wait over 40 years to get back home was not one he wanted to have. He started shaking.

"Oh, calm down, kid, It's alright, maybe it's just you were sent back in time to learn a lesson. Did you have a fight with your old man?" Russel asked.

"Old man, my pop-pop?" Lincoln asked.

"No, your Pop, single pop, your father, big daddy, whatever you call him?"

"No."

"Your Mom then, or sisters, best friend, your dog?"

"What? No, it was actually an alright day."

"Well come on."

"Huh?"

"Come with me to my room, so we can like hang out?"

"Oh, Ok."

He followed Russel to Russel's room. It was cleaner than the last time he saw it.

"Welcome to my little pad," Russel said.

"It's uhh cool," Lincoln said.

"Yep, I did have to clean up a bit, since today was allowance day,' he said.

"I see you have a record player," Lincoln replied.

"Yeah, it's groovy isn't it?" Russel said, "Do you like any bands?"

"I do like Smooch."

"I've heard them on the radio before, I don't have their latest single yet."

"I went to a concert a few months ago."

"Wait, Smooch still performs over 40 years later?"

"Yes, If we are talking about the same group."

"Next, you are going to tell me Elvis is still doing concerts."

"Uhh no, he's died before I was born, way before I was born."

"No way! When exactly?"

"I don't remember exactly, and there's no internet to look it up."

"Don't tell my Mom, she's like a big Elvis fan."

"I won't."

"Who else do you like?"

"Well I do like Queen, my sister Luna and I like their music."

Russel walked over to his bookshelf, where the first few rows had records in it, and grabbed one called "Sheer Heart Attack".

"Here we go, I have their most recent album," he said as he handed it to Lincoln.

"Does it have Bohemian Rhapsody on it?" Lincoln asked.

"What's that?" Russel asked.

"A song, by Queen," Lincoln said.

"Never heard of it," Russel said scratching his head.

"Oh wait, hold on, I think I have it on my phone," Lincoln said.

"Ah, I get it, you are pulling my leg."

"Yes, I can really listen to music on my phone."

Lincoln was lucky that he had some music downloaded to the machine and he found "Bohemian Rhapsody" and started to play it.

"That is killer! A portable music player, camera, thing, does it take headphones?"

"Yeah, it does."

"What size?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can I see the phone?"

Lincoln paused the music and handed the phone to Russel. The boy looked at the phone's jack and rubbed his chin. "Ah, yep that's a 1/8th-inch jack," he said. He walked over to his desk and grabbed a small gold plug and grabbed his bright yellow headphones and plugged the end of them into the gold plug then plugged it into the headphone jack. "How do I play, oh wait, I think I got it," he replied. He started listening to the song, "Glad it's in stereo," he said. He seemed to enjoy it. "This song is so freaky."

"Hey what's this?" Russel asked.

"Huh?" Lincoln asked.

"Sorry, hold on," Russel said as he moved the headphones from his head, "Who is this British chick singing?"

Lincoln put the headphones. "That's my sister, Luna, I have some of her songs on my phone."

"Your sister is British?"

"Well she likes the accent, her favorite singer is Mick Swagger."

"Who was playing that guitar?"

"Luna"

"Your sister like plays guitar?"

"Yeah, she can play many instruments."

Russel had figured out how to get to pictures.

"Dude, who's this groovy looking chick?". Russel asked.

Lincoln removed the headphones and Russel unplugged them.

"That's my oldest sister, Lori," Lincoln answered.

"She's kinda hot," Russel said.

"Uhhhh," Lincoln replied.

"Guess that would be kind of weird if you thought your sister was hot," Russel said.

Quickly, he changed pictures, the next one was Luan and Luna doing a combined comedy and music routine.

"The one in purple is kinda smokin' and the one in yellow is cute too."

"That's Luna in purple and Luan in yellow."

"So she's a musician, I like her style."

"Do you want to see the rest of my family?"

"Yeah, sure, I get us a spot to sit."

Russel went to his closet and pulled out a red bean bag chair.

"Since you are the guest, you can sit in bean bag chair if you want," he said.

Russel sat on a regular chair that he had under his desk.

"This is my other older sister, Leni," Lincoln replied.

"Wait is that this room?" Russel asked.

Lincoln looked around Russel's room and realized that it was indeed the same room.

"Yep," he replied.

"Not really diggin' what they've done with the place," Russel said.

"I'm not in this room much, unless we are having a sibling meeting or Leni wants me to model for her or Lori wants me to do something for her," Lincoln replied.

"Sibling meeting, like you all come in the room and talk about things?"

"Well, yeah like plan vacations or make decisions, stuff like that."

"Of these sisters, who is the oldest?"

"Lori."

"How old is she?"

"Seventeen."

"Leni is how old?"

"Sixteen."

"Luna and Luan?"

"Fifteen and Fourteen."

Russel tried to not laugh.

"How old are you?" Lincoln asked.

"Thirteen, the oldest of the kids here," Russel replied.

"I'll have to remember that."

"Who is this girl in all black, what's her deal?"

"That's my little sister, Lucy, she's a goth."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"She likes spooky stuff, vampires, ghosts, and likes to wear black."

"She reminds me of the Addams Family."

The next picture was Lana holding her pet snake, El Diablo.

"Word to the wise, if you are going to show pictures to the rest of the family, don't show Sherry this one, please don't," Russel said in a concerned voice

"I take it she doesn't like snakes?"

"You met her, right?"

"Yeah, she's the one with the pet...oh I see."

"Anyway, I think this girl and Bobby would get along they both seem to like messes."

"That's Lana, she's an animal-loving, plumbing, mechanical girl," Lincoln replied.

"She also plays dress up?" Russel asked.

"No, that's her twin sister, the younger one, Lola."

"Oh your family has twins too, but they are like both girls instead of one of each."

"Lola can be terrifying and she's a pageant princess."

"Like beauty pageants, with long dresses, swimwear, freaky talents, and things?"

"Yeah."

Then he showed him a picture of Lynn twirling a ball on her finger like a Globetrotter.

"She plays basketball?"

"Actually, Lynn, plays a lot of sports: baseball, softball, hockey, football, soccer, roller derby, and more."

"That's far out, you know a few years ago, girls weren't even allowed to wear pants in school."

"Really? Was it a uniform?"

"No, it was normal clothes, just girls could only wear skirts and dresses, Susan hated it."

"I think Lana and Lynn would have hated that, and maybe Lisa too."

"Is this one Lisa?"

"Let me see."

"Yeah, she's the family prodigy"

"What do you mean?"

"She's a four-year-old super-genius, she umm has degrees and a junior Nobel peace prize."

"You aren't messing with me are you?"

"No really, she is super smart, in fact, I kind of hope this whole time travel thing was her doing, then maybe she's working on a fix right now."

"Oh look a baby."

"That's the youngest Loud sister, Lilly"

"Wow, your folks have a strange hobby."

Lincoln just blinked not wanting to think about it too much.

"Hey, you want some grub?"

"Like a snack?"

"Yeah, come on."

Downstairs, Bobby and Sherry were watching some show with a clown and some puppets talking on the TV. Lincoln and Russel came downstairs and walked through the dining room to the kitchen. The younger siblings were curious and went into the kitchen themselves.

"Hey, it's Lincoln, Lincoln right?" , Bobby asked.

"Yep, that's right, and you are Bobby, right?" Lincoln asked.

"Yay! You remembered, my real name is Robert, but I like Bobby better," he said.

"Yeah his class has 3 Roberts, good thing he was going by Bobby for so long," Russel said.

"I know a Bobby in my time, he's my sister's boyfriend," Lincoln said.

"Which sister?" Russel asked.

"The oldest, Lori," Lincoln said.

Slightly disappointed, Russel went to the freezer to get a TV dinner, for his snack. Bobby poked around the pantry to see if there was something he wanted. Lincoln went to look for the peanut butter. Sherry went into the fridge and took out an apple.

"I'm surprised you aren't eating cheese," Lincoln replied.

Bobby and Russel turned and stared at each other.

"Well, mice don't really like cheese that much, they prefer vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, but cheese isn't good for them," Sherry said.

"Sorry, I didn't know," Lincoln said.

"It's alright," Sherry said.

Russel was slightly relieved as he put his food in the microwave. Bobby opened his snack cakes. Sherry started biting her apple.

"Does your family have pets?" Bobby asked.

"Oh yeah, we have a dog named Charles, a bird named Walt, a Hamster named Geo, and a cat named Cliff," Lincoln answered.

"C-C-C-ATTTTTTTTTT?" Sherry started to say.

"Uh oh," Bobby said.

Sherry ran under to the corner.

"I guess, I should have told you, Sherry is like afraid of cats," Russel said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lincoln said with concern in his voice.

He walked over to the young girl carefully and crouched down. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," he said. She looked at him and she got up and was alright. Lincoln was confused but hoped things were alright between them.

"Don't worry, Lincoln, she won't hate you," Bobby told him.

"Hey, do you still have that weird machine you brought with you?"Sherry asked Lincoln.

"Yes?" he asked in a confused tone.

"Groovy, can you show me some pictures, I want to see the future," she said.

"Uh, alright," Lincoln said.

"We should book it to the living room and look there," Russel said.

"Where did your Mom go, anyway?" Lincoln asked.

"She's in her room, folding laundry and watching her shows," Bobby said.

"Yep that's why that TV isn't in here," Russel said pointing at the spot in the kitchen.

The four walked into the living room and "Tom and Jerry" was playing on the television.

"Yay! Tom and Jerry," Sherry screamed.

"How can she watch Tom and Jerry if she's afraid of cats?" Lincoln whispered to Russel.

"Kind of like how she only does a squeak when she's wearing her costume, it's hard to understand," Russel said.

"She knows Tom isn't a real cat, kind of like how she's not afraid of monsters and junk," Bobby said.

They sat in front of the couch.

"Lincoln was telling me about his sisters earlier, they are kind of far out," Russel said.

"Oh yeah, is there any sisters my age?" Sherry asked, "I'm six years old."

"It's are there any sisters my age, honey", Katherine said.

"Oh, are there any sisters my age?" Sherrie asked.

"Russ, mind helping me get some of the laundry from the dryer?"

"Sure, Mom," Russel said.

Russel followed his mother leaving, Lincoln, Bobby, and Sherry in the living room.

"Yeah, I have two sisters your age," Lincoln said.

"I wanna see them!" Sherry shouted.

"Here you go, this Lola, in pink, and Lana in overalls," he said.

"So they are clones?" Bobby asked.

"No, they are twins like your older brother and sister," Lincoln said.

"Awww, I kind of wish they were clones like in Clones of Time and My Clone and Me," he said.

"Here, Bobby, this is Lucy, she is your age, I think," Lincoln said.

"I am eight," Bobby said.

"That's her age," he said.

"Why is she wearing all black?" Sherry asked.

"That's how she dresses," Lincoln said.

"I think it's kind of twitchin'," Russel said.

"Is that good?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah, it means awesome or cool," Bobby said.

"Who is this sister, with the flower?" Sherry asked.

"That's my older sister Luan, she loves jokes, puns, and pranks," Lincoln said.

"Puns?" Sherry asked.

"Uhh let me see, she's better at this than me, like one time I was waiting to use the bathroom she opened the door and a bucket of water fell on me and she went 'Wat-er you waiting for?'," Lincoln said.

Bobby and Sherry laughed, "Ha that's funny, you got wet," they said together.

Maybe they missed the point or Lincoln told it wrong.

A half an hour later, (so 4:30 PM).

"Hey Lincoln, do you like comic books?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln said with some excitement.

"Well come on!"

Bobby and Lincoln ran up the stairs to his room. His bed had drawers under it to make up for the size of the space. He pulled one of them open and took out some of his comic books.

"Do you have Ace Savvy?" Lincoln asked.

"Sorry, I don't, I usually get this kind with monsters, and science fiction stuff," he said.

"You have some interesting ones here, though," Lincoln replied.

"Hey, this one is about a time traveler,'' the boy said.

Lincoln looked at the comic called " ' Adventures in the Future 2000", which was about a time traveler who went the year 2000. It kind of amused Lincoln to see what people would have thought about a time he was born after.

"And tonight, we are going to watch a movie called Robots from Space, it's a Twitchin' movie, I've never seen it to the end, though, but since there's no school tomorrow, I can stay up and watch the whole thing!" Bobby said.

"That sounds cool," Lincoln said.

They didn't have a chance to look at the comics just then, but Bobby said Lincoln could check them out anytime. Bobby had to put his laundry away, while Sherry had to put hers away as well. Russel was talking on the phone in the living room.

The Pearson patriarch, Calvin, had come home his coat was drenched in rain as he tossed it off. Sherry ran up to him and hugged his leg, he picked her up and kissed her on the cheek. Then she ran off to return to what she was doing. His wife came out of her room and first told him to pick up his coat, then she kissed him.

"Kids! Come Down Stairs!" He called.

Four of the Pearson kids and Lincoln came downstairs and they lined up in front of the stairs.

"Don't have to line up like troops, there, I'm just saying we are getting pizza," he said.

The Pearson kids cheered.

"I want anchovies!" Bobby yelled.

"I know what you all want, well except Lincoln, what do you like on your pizza? Don't be shy!" Calvin said.

"I'll have pepperoni," he said.

"Got it!" he said.

"Dad, I want Susan's share!" Bobby shouted.

"Susan is not here, Bobby," his dad said.

"I know, that's why I want her share," Bobby said.

Russel thumped his brother on his head.

"Hey!" Bobby said as he hit Russel in the leg.

"You don't hit Russel like that, Bobby,'' Sherry said as she hit Bobby in the back.

Ricky flicked Sherry.

"Hey you can't hit a girl," she said.

"Well I didn't hit Russel," Ricky said.

Bobby then pinched Ricky, causing Sherry to hit Bobby again, then Russel meowed at Sherry causing her to run to the corner of the dining room.

"That wasn't nice, Russel," Bobby said.

They started to argue, it kind of reminded Lincoln of home life.

Katherine whistled, getting all her kids' attention.

"No, that's no way to act, and with Lincoln here," she said.

"Yeah, you're right, Mom," Russel said.

Then he walked over and punched Lincoln in the shoulder. The other kids then ganged up on Russel and started hitting him.

"That's not what I meant," Katherine yelled.

"Welcome to the family, Lincoln," Calvin said, "Alright everyone, it's over now, cut it out before I say no Pizza for kids and you will have to eat dog food, while your mother and I have Pizza."

The kids all calmed down and scurried off to their rooms


	3. Chapter 3

** AN: ****Welcome to Chapter 3. More time Lincoln seeing how this family works on weekends. Also, I think if I was able to go back in time and I think I would spend money for things that'd be cheaper ,in respect to current times. That'd be fun. **

**Funfact(s) : The Saturday that this chapter takes place in, later, is the same date "Saturday Night Live" premiered , I found this out when I was looking for something else. Also, there were two programs called "Saturday Night Live" on TV in fall of 1975, only one survived of course. **

**_Anyway, I'm done, here's the chapter, hope you enjoy it! _**

* * *

The Pearsons along with Lincoln had settled to a Friday evening. They had pizza for dinner while watching reruns of "I Love Lucy" and "Leave it to Beaver" on TV and playing a board game. Lincoln was doing quite well, usually, when his family played board games Lynn would beating everyone at this point and gloating, though she was working on it.

"Mom, what time is it?" Bobby asked.

"You can read a clock, Robert," Katherine said.

Bobby sighed as he looked at the clock.

"Why are you so worried about the time, Son, it's not like you have school tomorrow," Calvin replied.

"There's this really cool movie coming on at eight on channel 53, 'Robots in Space' it's really awesome," Bobby said.

"What are you talking about? You've only been able to watch 15 minutes of that movie and then had to go to bed," Russel accused.

"Quiet, Russ-el," Bobby said.

"Don't start, Russel," his mother said.

"Let me guess, you want to watch it?" his father asked.

"I don't want to see it, I don't like robots or space," Sherry said.

Russel looked at his sister like she speaking in tongues.

"That's it, it's 7:35, I'm making a phone call," Russel said.

The teenager went to the phone and moved it from its spot by the stairs, pulling it over to the dining room to make a more 'private' conversation.

"This is going to be really fun when we have three teenagers," Calvin said.

"You could always send Susan away to the mountains and then Lincoln could have her room," Bobby said.

Lincoln blushed.

"Anyway, I'm not sure I want to see some movie with robots in space," Katherine said.

"But Mom, it might never air again," Bobby pleaded.

"How long is this movie?" Calvin asked.

"It's probably like 2 hours with the commercials," Ricky said.

"Could you give me today's newspaper, Rick," Calvin said.

"Sure, Dad," Ricky said.

He handed his father a newspaper that had seen better times that day and found the entertainment section where the TV listings were located.

"Let's see, at 8pm, there's 'Mobile One," Calvin said.

"That show is boring," Katherine said.

"There's Big Eddie and MASH."

"I forgot MASH was on tonight," Katherine replied.

"That show is so boring," Ricky said.

"It has all the boring war stuff," Sherry said.

"Well, I want to see it, is "Sanford" new tonight?" Katherine asked.

"Hmm, yes it is," Calvin said.

"Rockford new tonight?"

"Yep, new Police Woman too."

"Mom, Hawaii Five-O is tonight," Ricky said.

"Then watch it on your TV, Ricky," his mother said.

"What about my movie?" Bobby asked.

"Now hold on, we have 3 TV's in this house, where's the kitchen TV, Dear?" Calvin asked his wife.

"In our room," she replied.

"Alright, Ricky do mind if Bobby watches his movie in your room?" Calvin asked.

"But Dad, my show," Ricky said.

Calvin waved his hand and clamped it indicating that Ricky should close his mouth.

"Is it alright, yes or no?"

"I guess so."

"Now, Ricky, you can watch your showdown here at nine, got it?"

Ricky Nodded.

"Honey, we can watch Rockford and Police Woman in our room."

"Such, a good peacekeeper."

Lincoln was amused by all of this.

"In my house, uhh, family, we have a rule where the first person with the remote gets to watch their show. Most of the time we just record our shows to watch later, or watch shows on our phones, or tablets, or computers," Lincoln said.

"You're pulling my leg, you can watch TV on that little thing?" Calvin asked.

"Yep, I think I can show you if one of the shows downloaded works," Lincoln said.

He pulled out his phone and started poking around and found an episode of Rip Hardcore that he had downloaded recently and gave the phone to Calvin.

"So, you record things to watch later?" Katherine asked.

"Oh yeah, it's convenient when you have 12 other people in your house," he said.

"Or if you have two shows you watch to watch but both come on at the same time?"

"Or three."

"That sounds impressive."

"Why is this man, eating bugs?" Calvin asked.

"Oh that's Rip Hardcore, he does survival stuff," Lincoln replied.

"Why is he trying to survive?" Ricky asked.

"He teaches people how to survive, I have one of his books, but not with me," Lincoln replied.

Calvin handed the phone back to Lincoln. Then folded up the newspaper and put it back on the coffee table.

"Mom, is it 8pm?" Bobby asked.

"It's 7:50," she replied.

"Can I have a popcorn?"

"Uh, I guess so."

"Mom, I'll make it for him," Russel said from the dining room.

"Oh that's very nice of you," she said.

"I wonder what he wants," Calvin said slightly joking.

"Lincoln, I just remembered, I have to get you a sleeping bag unless you want to sleep in Susan's room for the night," she said.

"Uh well..I…" he replied.

"Come on Lincoln, you spend the night in my room, please," Ricky pleaded.

"Since you were the one who found me, then yeah," Lincoln said.

"I'll be right back," Katherine said.

Katherine came back with a dark blue sleeping bag.

"Good thing, I had dug out two for Susan's sleepover," she said.

She handed it to Lincoln, along with an extra pillow.

"Thanks, ," Lincoln said.

"You're welcome, Lincoln," she replied.

Lincoln followed Ricky upstairs to his room. Bobby was sitting on the floor wearing only his underpants.

"You brought me a sleeping bag?" Bobby asked.

"No, it's for Lincoln, he's sleeping in here tonight," Ricky said.

"Awww, I wish he was going to sleep in my room," the boy lamented.

"Uh maybe tomorrow night or something, Bobby," Lincoln said to be diplomatic.

"Yeah!"

"If you want to, you can sleep in my bed tonight, and I can take the sleeping bag," Ricky said.

"You don't have to do that, the sleeping bag is fine for me," Lincoln said.

"Are either of you going to watch the movie with me?" Bobby asked.

"I guess I could watch the first hour," Ricky replied.

"Sure, I think I'll watch some of it," Lincoln said.

Russel came into the room with a bowl of popcorn.

"Here you go, fresh popcorn," Russel said.

"Thanks, Russel," he said.

"You crashing here tonight, Lincoln?" Russel asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln replied.

"That's a bummer, really hoping you were going to stay at my pad," Russel said.

"Uh, maybe another night," Lincoln said.

"You better at least once before you leave," Russel said.

"I promise," Lincoln said.

The teenage boy nodded and walked away. Ricky took off his socks, shirt and pants leaving just his boxers on and jumped in his bed, adjusting the pillow so he could watch the movie in comfort. Bobby found an extra blanket and Ricky gave him an extra pillow so he could watch on the floor. Lincoln rolled out his sleeping bag and faced it towards the TV.

"Oh, if you want some PJ's you can wear mine they are on the closet floor, or you can just be in your undies, your choice," Ricky said.

"Really, you don't mind?" Lincoln asked.

"No, why would we mind?" Bobby said.

"Oh no reason," Lincoln said.

He took off his clothes and went inside the sleeping bag.

It was nearing 10PM. Russel was watching "Hawaii Five-O" with Ricky. Sherry had fallen asleep on the love seat.

"Hey Russel, she's gone to sleep," Ricky said.

"Then bring her upstairs," Russel said.

"Why can't you do it?" Ricky asked.

"Ugh, fine, I bring the pipsqueak up this time, but the next time she falls asleep on the couch and it's just us, you better take her up, even if it is your show," Russel replied.

He scooped up his younger sister and carefully brought her upstairs, good thing her door was open. After finishing with that he checked Bobby's room and it was empty. Next, he checked Ricky's room where he found Lincoln passed out and Bobby, somehow still up, watching the movie.

"Sssh, Lincoln's sleeping," Bobby whispered.

"I'm surprised you are still awake," Russel said.

"I really wanted to watch this movie," Bobby said.

* * *

The next morning, Lincoln woke up at 9:30 he noticed that the room was empty and he didn't hear anything in the hallway, the Pearson house was somewhat quieter than the Loud house. He got up from the sleeping bag and walked around the house and heard some sounds downstairs. There he found Sherry and Bobby sitting crossed-legged on the floor both of them wearing just their underwear. There were three bowls with spoons in them and the remnants of some pieces of cereal.

"Good Morning, Lincoln," Sherry said.

"Good Morning, Sherry," he said, it was getting easy to remember names. Then again, it was easy to figure out Sherry, her being the only girl in the house at that time.

"There's cereal for breakfast in the kitchen," Bobby said.

"Oh right, thanks," he said

He walked into the kitchen, Ricky was in there listening to a radio show and laughing.

"Hey Lincoln, you slept well?" Ricky asked.

"Oh yeah, I did, thanks for letting me sleep in your room," Lincoln said.

"Man, it's alright, you don't have to say thanks for that, we want you to be like family," Ricky said.

"So, it's just us up?"

"Yeah, my parents like to sleep in on Saturdays, and Russel is the same way."

"What are you listening to?"

"This is the Jack Lyson Saturday Spectacular Show, all the fun, games, jokes for 2 hours every Saturday!"

"Oh, that sounds interesting."

"Came down here to listen to it, so I wouldn't disturb you."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, it's fine, I had to be down here anyway, watched some TV with Sherry and Bobby."

Ricky helped Lincoln find the cereal in this case, frosted flakes, and a bowl. It kind of became a tour of the kitchen to help Lincoln find anything so he wouldn't have to rely on others in the family if he wanted something in the kitchen.

"It's not going to rain today, maybe we could go out and figure out how you ended up here, there might be some clues where I found you," Ricky said.

Lincoln sighed, "I can't remember where I landed exactly, and those leaves have gotta have been moved by now."

"I'm sorry, Dude," Ricky said.

"It's alright, I just someone at home figures out that I time traveled, somehow, or discovered a black hole," Lincoln said.

"I think that's a wormhole," Ricky said.

"Uh, yeah that," Lincoln said.

"That's what I get from having a brother who is interested in this sci-fi stuff."

"Yeah, I saw his comic books."

"Well, you haven't really out had you?"

"I did go with your mom on her errands yesterday."

"Oh see, we should go out, we could have a far-out day."

"Alright, it might be interesting to see what Royal Woods looked like 40 years ago."

"Twitchin'! After my show, if you don't mind."

Russel woke up nearly before 11AM he had set his alarm to wake him at that time he got out of his bed and adjusted his nightshirt and looked out the window to see it was gray and cloudy outside. He turned on his radio and looked for the station 1020 AM for a show he enjoyed every Saturday was about to start. He left his room to see what his family was doing. Ricky was dressed wearing blue overalls and a gray and brown long-sleeved shirt and Lincoln was wearing a white and orange long-sleeved shirt with blue jeans. They were listening to the last part of "Saturday Spectacular" Bobby and Sherry were still downstairs, not dressed, watching the remainder of Saturday morning fair. In the kitchen, he took out a frozen breakfast sandwich, popped in the microwave, and waited for it to 'ding'.

He took a paper towel, grabbed his sandwich, walked to the front door, and grabbed the newspaper which was wrapped in a blue sleeve, he took it out, found the sports section and went upstairs back to his room.

"Saturday comics are here," Sherry said.

"Oh yeah! Let's check them out!" Bobby replied.

"You are listening to 1020AM WROY The Sound of Royal Woods, Helzeltuckey, and the surrounding areas," The voice on Russel's radio said, "Hi everybody welcome to American Top 40, I'm Wink Martindale in for Casey Kasem…." another voice said. The first song was ABBA's S.O.S. Russel sat down on his bed and listened to the music.

"Come on, Lincoln, let's go," Ricky said.

The boy gave Lincoln a jacket and he put on his own and they put on their shoes and left Ricky's room. They went downstairs through the kitchen to the back door.

"Wait, don't we have to tell your parents?" Lincoln asked.

"Huh? They know we are going out, they just want us back before dark," Ricky said.

Lincoln blinked and nodded, then followed him out the back door.

At the side of the yard, there were 7 bikes. Russel pointed at a baby blue colored bike. "That's Sherry's bike, you can tell with the little mouse flag on the back," he said. "That yellow one, is Bobby's, guess the Bobby plate would give that away," he continued. This green one is mine." The next one was Susan's bike it was orange. There was Russel's red bike. "This one here is Rusell's other bike, it's a Raleigh Chopper." Lincoln looked at the blue bike, it looked like a bike with a more chair-like seat.

"You can ride Susan's bike, or Rusell's Chopper if you'd like. I have to warn you that the chopper is tricky and not good for going really fast," Ricky said.

"I think I'll ride Susan's then," Lincoln said.

"There you go, she probably won't wind," Ricky replied.

"Uhh, she hasn't come back yet either, is that normal?" Lincoln asked.

"Yes, she might be hanging out with her friends or sleeping in."

"Are you close with your twin?"

"Yeah, though I don't we are like twins on TV though but we are close."

Lincoln put on a white helmet and got on Susan's bike. He and Ricky rode away. The neighborhood still looked the same but different. They rode to the park where Lincoln first landed in case, there were any signs that Lincoln could use to figure out how he got there or how to get out.

"Yep those leaves have been either blown away or raked up," Ricky said.

"Just my luck," Lincoln said.

Ricky jumped up and down on a spot of grass to see if anything would happen.

"Maybe Russel is right, you might have to take a long way home," Ricky replied.

Lincoln imagined himself being over 50 years old and knocking on his family's door saying that he's Lincoln Loud and getting kicked by Lynn for being a "creepy old man".

"Yeah, I'd hope it doesn't turn out that way," Lincoln said.

"What way?" Russel asked.

"Nevermind, let's ride bikes, I'll have to figure out the time travel thing a different way," Lincoln said.

"Here's an idea, you write a note and place it here, then maybe it'll get zapped back to your time and your sisters could read it in your bedroom and get you back," Ricky said.

"I don't think that makes sense, Ricky," Lincoln said.

"Neither does getting sent back in time and waking up in a leaf pile, but that's what happened," Ricky said.

"But I don't even remember actually where I woke up."

"It was over there."

"Really?"

"I don't know."

The park wasn't really busy for a Saturday, the weather might have turned people off, even though it wasn't going to rain it was still chilly. They saw a girl riding a teal bike riding up towards them where did a hard stop. She had long brown hair done with two braids, she was wearing a blue jean jacket with a plaid three-color skirt of brown, red, and green. Her socks were red went up to her knee. She was wearing worn-out sneakers.

"Ricky Pearson, why are you standing in my way?" she asked.

"Well Judith, this is the sideWalk, it's for Walking," he said.

She stuck her tongue out at Ricky and jumped off her bike letting it fall to the ground. She caught a glimpse of the boy from the future.

"Alright, who's your friend?" she asked.

"Sorry, Judith this is Lincoln, Lincoln this is Judith," Ricky said.

"I haven't seen him around here before is, he new?" Judith asked.

"Well, I guess so, he's a time traveler from the future stuck in our time," Ricky replied.

Lincoln slapped his forehead.

Judith started to laugh.

"Time traveler, oh Ricky, you make me laugh," she said.

"You got me, he's my cousin who's spending time here for a while, while his parents are on a long trip for their job," Ricky replied.

"I like your hair, it's groovy," she said,

"Thanks," he said.

"Good you do talk, so how old are you?" she asked.

"Eleven,' he replied.

"Ah same as Ricky here, I'm still ten almost eleven, what grade 5th or 6th?"

"Fifth," Lincoln said.

"Nice," she said.

"So, what are you doing?" Ricky said.

"Well, I'm going home from Christine's sleepover," Judith said.

"Hmm, I guess that means Susan is home," Ricky replied.

"You changed clothes at the sleepover?" Lincoln asked.

"That's a strange question to ask but yes, I have my PJs in my backpack here, uhh," she felt her back noticing she didn't have her backpack," Bogus! Now, I have to go back and get it."

"Sorry about that," Lincoln said.

"No, you are a lifesaver, because I would have gone all the way home to hear my Mom complain about me being responsible or something, better get back to Christine's house before her mom calls mine," Judith said.

"Good Luck, Judy," Ricky said.

"Later guys, hope to see you again, Lincoln," Judith said.

"Yeah, it was nice meeting you," Lincoln said.

She turned her bike around and rode off.

"I think Judith liked you," Ricky said.

Lincoln blushed.

"I hope you don't mind that cousin story we are using for you," Ricky replied.

"I guess not, but fill me in, what if someone asks where I'm from, where am I from?", Lincoln asked.

"Take a chill pill, you are from Grand Rapids," Ricky answered.

"Why Grand Rapids?" Lincoln asked.

"We don't know anyone there," Ricky answered with a wide smile taking over his face.

"So, is Judith a friend of yours?"

"Not really, she's one of Susan's friends."

"Oh."

"We are in the same class though. You see, we have friends that we have together, and friends that we have as our own."

"That makes sense."

"The pictures you showed us, you have twins in your family, right?"

"Yeah, Lana and Lola."

"Do they share their friends or do they have their own?"

"Hmm, I never really thought about it, I think they have separate friends since they are so different from each other."

After riding their bikes for a while, it was kind of chilly so, Ricky suggested they go and some hot chocolates they rode to a place that Lincoln thought was familiar but it wasn't at the same time.

"What's wrong, Lincoln?" Ricky asked.

"Hmm, I just remember this area being something different," he said.

"That's kind of sad, that means Alf's won't be here forever," Ricky said.

"Alf's?" Lincoln asked.

"Yep Alf's Convenience Mart, open since 1949," Ricky said like an ad.

"It's strange to see this not be Flip's," Lincoln said.

He took a picture to document it. The two boys walked inside and there was a machine the provided hot chocolates, it used coffee cups to hold it. Ricky got two and looked around the store, he grabbed two candy bars and walked to the counter. Lincoln followed him.

"Have you had this candy bar before?" Ricky asked.

Lincoln nodded.

A teenage boy was working behind the cash register. He added the prices of the hot chocolates and candy bars.

"Ricky, let me pay for us," Lincoln said.

"Really, you don't have to…" Ricky said.

"It's a way to say thanks for helping me," Lincoln said.

"Well, I guess it would be rude to decline, next time I'm paying for us," Ricky said.

"That'll be 70 cents," the teenage boy said.

"Yeah sure hold on," Lincoln said. He pulled out his wallet and thought for a second, "Really, 70 cents?"

"Oh yeah, two candy bars 15 cents each, that's 30 cents, two hot chocolates 20 cents each. I have a B in math," the boy said.

"I'm just surprised that it's so cheap, things cost more in the fut... Grand Rapids," Lincoln said.

He handed the boy a 20 dollar bill he had saved.

The boy looked at the bill.

"Wow, you must be one of those rich kids, well here's your change: 1 ten, 1 five, 4 ones, 1 quarter, and 5 pennies," the teen said.

Lincoln looked at the money in his hand and stuck the bills in his wallet and coins in his pocket. They walked away with the candy bars and hot chocolate and sat on the curb next to the store to drink the chocolate.

Eventually, the two of them back to the house. Inside, Susan, Calvin, Bobby, and Russel were watching the first game of the World Series it was bottom of the sixth inning Boston and Cleaveland were tied 0-0.

"Hey boys, welcome home," Calvin said.

"Hi Mr. Perason," Lincoln said.

"Hey, Dad, who's winning?" Ricky asked.

"It's locked 0-0", Calvin said.

Susan got up from the couch she was wearing just an oversized gold and white long-sleeved shirt with the number 5 on it, it was one of her father's old shirts. She confronted Lincoln.

"You didn't wreck my bike, did you?" she asked.

"No, No, I didn't," Lincoln said nervously.

She started to laugh.

"You should have seen your face," she said.

He relaxed with some relief that she wasn't going to punch him or something.

"You are probably used to a little joshin' with the 10 sisters," she said.

"I would have thought Lincoln would want to ride the chopper," Russel said from the couch.

"You barely ride that thing," Susan quipped.

"Yes, I do," Russel said.

"Hey Lincoln, do you like baseball?" Calvin asked.

"Uhh sorry Mr. Pearson it's not my thing," Lincoln said.

"There's something for you and ole Rick to get along with," Calvin said.

"Does everyone else like baseball here or something?" Lincoln asked.

"Russel, Susan, and Bobby like, it, Sherry and Ricky, don't" Calvin replied.

"I even play softball," Susan said.

"How about football?" Calvin asked.

"I'd rather watch it than play it," Lincoln said.

"You aren't a Bears fan are ya?" Calvin asked.

"No, Sir," Lincoln said.

"I don't like football," Bobby said.

"Oh, that's right, Bobby and Sherry don't like football," Calvin replied.

"My sister, Lynn, has played before," Lincoln said.

"Really? A girl playing football? Wow" Susan said.

"With like, other girls?" Russel asked.

"No, with boys," Lincoln said.

"Interesting, the future is very interesting," Calvin said.

"I think he's said Lynn has played other sports too," Russel replied.

"Like what?" Calvin questioned.

"Uh, basketball, hockey, ice hockey, roller derby, soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, probably some others, too many to mention," Lincoln answered.

"What is she a robot?" Bobby asked.

"I don't think so," Lincoln said.

"What does she look like?" Susan asked.

"I never showed you the pictures of my sisters?" Lincoln asked.

"I wasn't here with you yesterday," she replied.

"You should see his older sisters, they're foxes," Russel said.

Lincoln sat down at the end of the stairs with Susan and showed her pictures of his sisters.

"You have a dog," Susan said, then she whispered, " a cat," then back to normal voice level, "a bird, and a hamster, that's a lot of pets."

"Guess a big family, would also have a lot of pets," Lincoln said.

Then he showed her a picture of Lana with some of her own pets.

"I better not risk saying the s word," she said.

"Susan?" Bobby asked.

"The bad one?" Russel asked.

"You two are trying to bait me into saying it aren't you?" Susan asked.

"Say what?" Russel asked.

"Boys don't make your sister say snake," Calvin said.

Russel and Bobby laughed. "You said it, Dad", the two boys said.

"Good thing Sherry didn't hear that," Ricky said.

* * *

The next morning, Lincoln felt someone pushing him and saying "Wake up Lincoln". He looked and saw it was Bobby. The night before he slept in Bobby's room and Bobby wanted him to take the bed so he could sleep in the sleeping bag himself.

"Huh? What's going on?" Lincoln asked in a groggy voice.

"Time for Sunday breakfast," Bobby said.

It was a quarter past nine in the morning. He also noticed that there was some sunlight this morning. He got up from out of bed and looked at the clock and yawned. He bent down looking for pants.

"You don't have to get dressed until after breakfast, come on!" Bobby said.

They ran downstairs and the family was in the dining room. There was a nice spread of food on the table with french toast stacked on two plates, piece of bacon on another. A jar of syrup, some hash browns, ketchup bottle, and bottles of milk and orange juice.

"Good Morning Lincoln, how do you like your eggs cooked?" asked Katherine.

"Uhh scrambled," said Lincoln.

"Oh yes, tell , he's the one doing breakfast today," she said.

Breakfast went pretty well, it was the first time he had seen the family eat breakfast together at the table. They were loud but not as loud as a family, and maybe they were still partially tired.

"When you are done, put your dishes in the kitchen," Katherine said.

Russel finished first and put his plate in the kitchen.

"Get ready, Russel," his mother said.

"Alright, oh should I find something for Lincoln?" Russel asked.

"Oh yes, I kind of forgot," she said.

Lincoln was a little confused and finished his breakfast and went to find Russel.

"Hey Lincoln," he said.

"What's going on?" Lincoln asked.

"Nobody told you, then we are getting ready for church," Russel said.

"So, that's why we are kind of up early," Lincoln replied.

"Yep, so I have a suit ready for you, it's in my room," the teen said.

Russel and Lincoln got dressed.

"Looking good, Linc," Russel said.

"Thanks, you too," Lincoln replied.

"Want to see something funny?" Russel asked.

"Sure," Lincoln said.

"Everyone has a pre church routine: Susan will complain about wearing a dress, Ricky will try and slip by Mom with wearing sneakers, Bobby will complain about his tie, Sherry will beg to bring Spangles. Bonus, it's football season and the Lions are playing at one so, Dad will mention that a few times and Mom will tell me to turn off any lights and junk before we go."

"Really?"

"Hold on and listen, for Mom's voice."

After a couple minutes.

"It's just for a couple hours, Susan!" Katherine said.

"But Mom, why should I have to wear a dorky dress, when I should be able to dress any way I want, God won't mind," she said.

"Susan, just wear the dress, then when you come home you can wear anything you want, I don't care, just hurry up and get dressed!" Katherine yelled.

"See Lincoln," Russel said.

"Nobody wants to see that," Bobby said as he popped out of his room.

"Young man, where's your tie?" she asked.

"I don't want to wear a tie, it's strangling me, like a snake," Bobby replied.

There was a scream in Sherry's room.

"Just put on a tie," Katherine said.

"Fine, Dad! Can you help me!" Bobby yelled.

"Woah," said Lincoln.

Russel laughed.

"Come on Lincoln, you've gotta book this room to see the rest happen," Russel said.

"Ricky, would you put on some dress shoes?" Katherine said.

"But they hurt my feet, Mom," Ricky replied.

"Come on, you can take them off in the car on the way home," she said with some compromise.

"What about Lincoln? He has to wear some too," Ricky said pointing at the boy.

"Don't worry Mom, I got that handled," Russel replied.

"Thanks, Russ, and you look nice Lincoln," Katherine said.

"Fine," Ricky said.

Sherry was holding a ball with Spangles inside, the mouse had a little bow on a little collar.

"See, Daddy, Spangles is dressed he can go, right?" Sherry asked.

"You aren't bringing Spangles with you to church, young lady," Katherine said annoyed.

"Spangles is a mouse, a mouse is God's creature, he should be allowed to go," Sherry said.

"He stays home!"

"Come on Mom, he'll get lonely with nobody here."

"He's not lonely when we go out."

"We should get him a wife, what if a lady mouse is at church waiting for him?"

"What if a cat was there?"

"Oh mom went for the low ball," Russel whispered to Lincoln.

"You wouldn't let a cat eat him, Mom, he's a family member that'd be like if a cat ate, Ricky."

"Ball one," Russel whispered.

Katherine groaned.

"Spangles can't go, alright, he's alright here. He would get bored in church."

"Hmm he does get bored easily, guess should stay here, Spangles."

"3 Outs, mom wins," Russel whispered.

"There we go, Bobby, nice tie, all ready to go," Calvin replied.

"We better get going, right, Dad?" Russel asked.

"Oh yeah, and remember no doodling after we need to get home for the Lions game," Calvin replied.

"Oh yes, of course," Katherine said.

The family and Lincoln got into the station wagon with Bobby, Sherry, and Lincoln sitting in the far back.

"Russel, could you check if the lights and anything else that needs to be off, are off?" his mother asked.

Russel smiled at Lincoln, got out of the car and went to check the house.


	4. Chapter 4

** AN: Back with another chapter of this strange idea. (and Earlier than the past couple chapters) This is more a slice of life story than it is Lincoln having like 50 attempts fail at trying to get back to his time. I hope you like that. Also Lincoln has to go to school because being in trapped in a different time doesn't mean he can slack off on his learning now can he? ****Anyway, nothing else to say, I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!**

* * *

Over the next week, Lincoln had tried some attempts of trying to get back to his time like burying a note with a picture of him with the Pearsons in a cookie can in the backyard hoping that Lana would find it and tell his family. Meanwhile, he had gotten to learn the ins and out of the Pearson family much like he did at home.

Monday, October 20, 1975. It was at 7AM. Lincoln felt someone poking him in the side he tried to push it away but it kept going. "Lisa, you better not be trying to experiment on me," he muttered. Then he heard a voice, "Linc, it's time to wake up," it said. He opened his eyes and it was Russel standing over him. He was still at the Pearson house and still in Russel's room where he had spent the night.

"Huh, what time is it?" Lincoln asked.

"First day of school time," Russel said.

The white-haired boy got up from the sleeping bag, yawned and sighed. Katherine had signed him into school the past Thursday so he wouldn't miss any schooling he needed in case he was there a long time. It was also so he wouldn't be bored staying at the house all day while the others were at school. He put on some jeans and a white with green thin striped long-sleeved shirt with socks with red and blue stripes. This had become a routine style of outfit for him now. Then he put on his sneakers as Russel came back into the room to check on him.

Downstairs, Sherry and Bobby were sitting on opposite sides of their father looking at the daily comic strips with him.

"Good Morning, Lincoln," Calvin said.

"Happy Monday," Sherry said.

"Morning, Lincoln," Bobby replied.

"Good morning," the boy said to them.

He could smell breakfast being cooked in the kitchen and saw "AM America" airing on the TV. He walked over to the kitchen where Katherine was cooking.

"Good Morning, ready for your first day?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lincoln replied.

"Well, you'll have a good day, you'd like some eggs and bacon, correct?" she asked.

"Yes, ma`am," he said.

"Wonderful, I think Susan is coming home for lunch today, so if you are following her, I won't have to make your lunch," she said.

"Sure, that'll be nice," Lincoln said.

Upstairs, had a familiar sight to him of two people waiting for the bathroom with Susan banging on the door.

"Russel, come on hurry up, I need to brush my teeth!" Susan yelled.

"Why would you brush your teeth before breakfast, like, that's the dumbest thing I've heard," Russel said through the door.

"Hey Lincoln, we have to wait for RUSSEL to get out of the bathroom," Susan said.

"Yeah, I wish this house had one more bathroom," Ricky said.

"Or we could just kick Russel out," Susan said.

"I know how this feels when my whole family had to share this bathroom," Lincoln said.

Ricky and Susan turned their heads to look at him.

"This house still has only a bathroom in the future?" Susan asked.

"Yep," Lincoln said.

"That means Dad never did build that second bathroom," Ricky said.

"Russel!" Susan yelled.

"I couldn't imagine sharing a bathroom with 10 chicks," Ricky said.

"Hey, you may it sound like girls spend all their time in the bathroom," Susan said.

"Well you do," Ricky said.

"Then how do you explain Russel?" Susan asked.

"Maybe he's a chick," Ricky said loudly.

Russel opened the door and came out to confront his brother.

"Just because I want to look good doesn't mean I'm not a guy," Russel said.

Then he heard the door slam behind him.

"Oh come on, Susan!" he yelled.

"You're welcome, Sis," Ricky replied.

"Hey, you tricked me!" Russel said.

"I had to do my twin a solid," Ricky said.

"Mom, are you going to get my watch today?" Bobby asked.

"Yes, Bobby, I didn't forget to get it, it's a strange watch you found so it took longer," Katherine said.

Lincoln, Ricky, and Susan came into the dining room for breakfast as the rest of the family minus Russel sat down in their chairs.

"Ready for your first day, Lincoln?" Calvin asked.

"I think so, sir," Lincoln said.

"Hope this fog dies down," Catherine said.

"But fog is so pretty," Sherry said.

"My sister, Lucy, would love this weather," Lincoln said.

"That's the one without eyes right?" Sherry asked.

"She has eyes, under her hair, I think," said Lincoln.

"As long as it doesn't rain, it's hard to see through the rain with glasses," Bobby said.

"Sorry, you aren't in our class," Ricky said.

Lincoln was placed in a different fifth grade than Susan and Ricky due to that class being full while the other fifth grade had slots open still.

"Don't worry, we can still see each other at other times," Lincoln said.

"Like recess," Susan said.

"I tried, but I already worked hard to make sure they had Susan and Ricky in the same class," Catherine said.

Russel came into the dining room.

"Hey dad, do you think I'm ready to shave?" Russel asked placing his face in front of his father.

"Yeah, your head, that's the only place you have hair," his father joked.

"Dad, be serious," Russel said.

"You aren't ready yet, alright?" Calvin said.

"I want a beard," Sherry said.

"Why?" Bobby asked.

"Then I store food in it for future snacks," Sherry replied.

"In speaking, of beards, you should be thinking of Halloween costumes," Catherine said.

"I want to be a mouse," Sherry said.

"Gee, what a surprise," Ricky said.

"You should go as a gnome, they have beards," Russel said.

"Figure it out so, if there's anything I need to get, I can get it," Catherine said.

"That includes Lincoln too?" Sherry said.

"Of course," Catherine said.

Russel was the first to leave on his bike to school. Sherry, Bobby, and Ricky got their lunches and backpacks and left out on their bikes. Susan and Lincoln were the last two.

"OOh, Russel left the chopper for you, I guess," Susan said.

"This thing is alright, right?" Lincoln asked

"Yeah, just don't try to go too fast or any tricks," she said.

He got on the space blue colored bike and followed Susan to the school. Royal Woods Elementary was in the same spot it was in his time and kind of looked the same. He parked the bike with a lock on the bike rack.

"If they try to nab that thing they are going to get far," Susan said.

She had him follow her inside to the office. There was a woman with long blond hair, skinny build and wearing a flowery dress. She moved her attention from her newspaper and saw Lincoln and Susan standing there.

"Yes, may I help you?" she asked.

"Ms. Lawrence, this is the new student, my cousin Lincoln Loud," Susan replied.

"Lincoln Loud, how do I spell that?" she asked.

"L-i-n-c-o-l-n L-o-u-d?" Lincoln replied.

"Ah ok," she said.

She looked inside a file cabinet in the drawer labeled "K-M".

"Ah yes, the only Loud in our file!" she said.

"There's nobody else with that name in the school, not even a boy named Lynn or something?" Lincoln asked.

"Nope, it goes from Loud that's you, then it's Louden, not you," she said.

"Thanks, Ms. Susan, for bringing him in I'll deal with him now," Ms. Lawerence said.

"Yes, Ms. Lawrence, Catch ya later, Lincoln," Susan said.

"Thanks, Susan," Lincoln said.

Ms. Lawrence looked a notebook and took a piece of scrap, wrote something down, and handed the paper to Lincoln.

"This is your locker number and combo, don't lose that, but if you forget or need help, contact the office," she said.

"Ms. Lawrence, do I have any messages?" a man who just entered the office asked.

"Sorry, Mr. Gordon, nothing that I know of," she said.

"Who's this?" he asked.

"Our new student, Lincoln Loud," she said.

The tall older man with balding hair but still looked fit looked at the boy.

"Loud huh? I hope that's just a name and I won't be seeing you because you are loud," the man said in a stern voice.

"No sir, I'm not very loud," he said.

"Welcome to Royal Woods Elementary, Son, let's see where are you from?" he asked.

"Uh Grand Rapids," Lincoln said.

"Ah, heard it's a nice town, never been myself, though," Mr. Gordon said.

"Yeah, it's a great place," Lincoln said.

"Alright, Mrs. Lawrence helps him find his classroom," Mr. Gordon said.

The woman let Lincoln find his locker first and put his jacket, and stuff except for some supplies he needed. Then followed her to his classroom. It had a sign on the door that said "Mrs. Tanner's Fifth Grade class". "Wait here, Lincoln, I'll get Mrs. Tanner." The teacher was an older woman with black hair turning gray kind of short and curly. She was wearing a plaid dress. Ms. Lawrence told the boy to come into the room as she left. Mrs. Tanner had Lincoln stand up in front of the glass with 30 eyes staring at him, he remembered when new students are introduced they have to be paraded like they are for show and awkwardly stand there.

"Alright, class we have a new student with us today, his name is Lincoln Loud, he's the cousin of two kids in the other 5th-grade class, so give him your welcome," she said.

The students gave him a muted clap.

"So, Lincoln tell us a little about yourself," she said.

He coughed. "Well, I'm Lincoln Loud, I have ten sisters, I'm from Grand Rapids, and yeah that's it," he said.

"Ten sisters?" one of the kids asked.

Lincoln had kind of let it slip he had to recover somehow.

"Well you see, uhh, when I lived in grand rapids I was close with my next-door neighbors who have ten girls, and they were like sisters to me, since I'm an only child, who is an only child," he replied.

"Ah, that's sweet," Mrs. Tanner said.

"Thanks," he said.

"Have a seat right there," she said.

He walked to the desk with his stuff and found it was a desk that had the open up top where a student could place things inside. The teacher handed Lincoln an English textbook, some papers about her classroom rules, other students names and phone numbers, a couple worksheets, and a weekly class letter.

"Alright, everyone let's start our time looking at sentence structure," she said.

There it was everything was feeling slightly normal with him in a school during the day from 8:45AM to 2:30PM. He did miss his friends: Clyde, Rusty, Liam, Zach, and Stella, he wondered if they missed him. So far, no one commented about his white hair yet either. The one student on the right of him was a girl with blond hair in pigtails and blue eyes she was wearing green pants with a rainbow-striped white sweater and brown shoes.

"Hey there, Dude, I'm Audrey, nice to meet you," she whispered.

"Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Lincoln," he said.

She lightly giggled in her whispers.

"I know, silly," she said.

"Remember the rule, no talking during class," said.

After English was math, and he had accumulated two books. Then after that, he found out there was a 15 minute recess period at 10AM. He also could keep his books in his desk since that would be his desk all year, in theory. He went to his locker and found out that the kid next to him on the left side was in his class.

"Hey you're the new kid," he said.

"Yeah, I'm Lincoln," he said.

"I'm Todd," he said.

Todd was slightly shorter than Lincoln he had light brown shaggy hair, he was wearing a very faint yellow and white button-up shirt with a green knitted vest over it, and gray pants.

"Your hair is interesting, I've never seen white hair on a kid before," Todd said.

Lincoln blushed a little not sure what to say.

"Don't worry, I think it's bad," Todd said.

"Oh," Lincoln said.

"Anyways, I'll see you outside," Todd said.

Ricky had found Lincoln putting his jacket on.

"How's your first day going?" Ricky asked.

Lincoln jumped not expecting Ricky to just talk behind him like that.

"Well that's not happened to me for a while," Lincoln replied.

"What's that?" Ricky asked.

"Oh, nothing, I think it's going alright, though I think a boy said my hair was bad," Lincoln said.

"How'd he say it?" Ricky asked.

"Don't worry, I think it's bad," Lincoln quoted.

Ricky chuckled for a minute.

"Then he means it's groovy," Ricky explained.

"So, he liked it?' Lincoln asked.

"Yep, though I prefer to use bangin' or groovy myself," Ricky replied.

The two of them walked outside for recess while still talking.

"Sometimes you have to listen for the context with words too, like if he said 'your hair is bad it makes me want to puke' that's negative," Ricky said.

Lincoln nodded.

"Dude can be used many ways too," Ricky said.

"I think I understand that one from Luna, and we still use that word in the future," Lincoln said.

"Far out," Ricky replied.

"I'm glad he wasn't picking on me or something," Lincoln said.

Ricky put his hand on Lincoln's shoulder.

"You should be fine," he replied.

"So, what are you going to do?" Lincoln asked.

"Hmm, the short recess is harsh, I have to wait for the lunch recess to play four square, look at that line!" Ricky said.

"There you are," Susan said to her brother.

"Hey Susan, I was not looking for you," Ricky said.

"I can tell, oh hey Lincoln, how's your first day going so far?" Susan asked.

"Guess it's going better than I thought it would," Lincoln said.

"Groovy," Susan said, "If anyone bugs you, we'll make sure they don't, right Ricky?" Susan replied.

"Yeah," he replied.

Todd walked over to Lincoln.

"There ya are," Todd said.

"Well hey Todd," Susan replied.

"Susan, what's up?" Todd asked.

"I see you met our cousin, Lincoln," Susan said.

"He's your cousin?" Todd asked.

"Yep," Ricky replied.

"He's living with us for a while," Susan added.

"Cool," Todd said.

"So you guys know him?" Lincoln asked.

"He was in our class last year," Susan said.

The bell rang. Recess was over, and they had spent their time talking. Lincoln walked back to his locker and put the jacket away then back to the classroom. Audrey walked back into the room and sat at her desk.

"Hey Lincoln, right?", she asked him.

"Yeah, that's right, I'm sorry I kind of forgot your name," Lincoln said.

"That's alright, you probably have met a lot of kids today, I'm Audrey," she said.

"Hi Audrey," he said.

"I like your hair, especially that cowlick," she replied.

"Thanks," he said.

The day continued and then it was lunchtime, Susan found Lincoln at his locker.

"You ready to go?" she asked.

"Yep, let's go!" Lincoln yelled.

They went to the bike rack both of them unlocking their bikes. She looked at Lincoln moving the Chopper back and had an idea.

"Mind, If I trade you, during the ride home and back?" she asked.

"Really?" he asked.

"Sure, but you have to ride that thing after school," she said.

"OK," Lincoln said.

They made it to the house with 20 minutes left in the lunch period. Lincoln was still surprised, they actually let people go home during lunch. Inside, there was the smell of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

"Hey kids, I'm right on time once again," Katherine said.

"Hey Mom, I'll be right back down after I wash my hands," Susan said.

"Good girl," Katherine said.

Susan ran upstairs and Katherine turned her attention to Lincoln.

"So, Lincoln, how was the first day so far?" she asked.

"It's a little strange but alright, I think," he said.

"I guess being a time traveler makes it strange, anyways, I have a surprise for you," she said.

"Really, a surprise for me?" he asked.

"Yep, but not after lunch, if there's time," she said.

Lincoln walked into the dining room.

"After you wash your hands," she said.

"Oh right, sorry," he replied.

Susan and Lincoln ate their lunch together in the dining room.

"This is why coming home is the best Lincoln, there's no way a grilled cheese could keep," Susan said after sipping some milk.

"Yeah, your Mom is really good at making these," Lincoln said.

After finishing, Katherine had something to show Lincoln. She, Lincoln, and Susan followed her upstairs to the attic door.

"Pull down that door," Katherine said.

Lincoln did so.

"Go up, Lincoln," she replied.

Lincoln went up he hadn't really seen the attic in the house of the past and there was something he wasn't expecting: There was a bed with a small table on it with a lamp.

"I know it's not much, but I thought you would like to have a little space of your own," she said from below.

"Wait, you made me a bedroom?" he asked.

"Yeah, though the other stuff we are storing away is still up there, but we made a little room," she said.

"Where'd you get a bed from, Mom?" Susan asked.

"It's one of those folding beds, that had," she said.

"Really is that because they are moving?" Susan asked.

"Yep, good timing huh?" she said.

Bobby arrived home surprisingly not covered with mud or messy in someway. "Mom, I'm home!" he yelled.

He looked around the TV was on but she wasn't there so, he did the reasonable thing: started calling his Mom while walking around the house.

"Robert, what is it?" she said as she came up from the basement with a basket full of clothes, doing Susan and Ricky's washing.

"I'm home," Bobby said.

"I heard," she replied

The boy adjusted his glasses looked at his mother like she could read his mind. When she continued with the clothes basket and walked into the living room, he followed her staring at her.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Do you have my watch?" he asked.

"Why don't you help me with these clothes?" she asked.

"Buttttt Mommmm," he whined.

"You know batteries cost money, now I could take it out of your allowance or you could help me with these clothes," she said.

"Can I change the channel on the television?" he asked.

"Sure, if you still help correctly," she replied.

Lincoln, Ricky, and Susan went to the diner after school for some milkshakes and french fries Also with them were Susan's Friends, Christine, and Judith, one of Ricky's friends: Connie and Todd and Adruey had joined Lincoln.

"I have a question about your hair, Lincoln, like dye it or something?" Christine asked.

"Uhh well, no it's normally like this," Lincoln said.

"Hmmm, I like it, compared to mine which is so blah, I wish my mother would let me dye it," she said holding a red braid in her hand.

"I think it looks good," Lincoln said.

"I think Lincoln has a crush," Judith replied.

Susan kicked her in the shin.

"I'm just joshin'," she said.

"How's it been with Ricky and Susan's family?" Todd asked.

"It's groovy," Lincoln said trying to blend in with the time.

Susan giggled a little.

"Was there a reason why you couldn't stay with that neighbor family, you mentioned?" Audrey asked.

"Neighbor family?" Lincoln asked.

"The ones you called ten sisters by accident this morning," Audrey said.

"Oh them, sorry, it's been a long day," Lincoln said trying to cover up his mess up.

"Yeah, so why not?" Audrey asked.

"They didn't have enough room, you know ten girls in one house, was already a limit of space," he replied.

"Wow, ten kids, and I thought Susan and Ricky's family was big," Judith said.

"I bet you miss your friends in Grand Rapids," Todd said.

"Yeah, I do," Lincoln said thinking of his friends.

"You could still call them, then it won't feel so far," Audrey said.

"I wish," he thought.

Bobby put the watch on his wrist and looked at it.

"Did he figure out what these buttons are for?" Bobby asked his mother.

"Nope, he said he never saw a watch like that before, does seem fancy," his mother replied.

"I wonder how I set the time," he said.

"In speaking of time, do you want to take your bath before dinner?" she asked.

"I have to take one tonight?" Bobby asked.

"Yes, you do," she replied.

Bobby sighed.

"If you do it now, you can a) not have to worry about it later, b) get it before Sherry takes hers and everyone else comes home C) I'll let you stay up an extra hour for the baseball game," she said.

"The game isn't on tonight," Bobby replied.

"Fine, I'll let you have an extra hour tomorrow night, but everything else still stands," she said.

"One more thing, after my bath can I…?" Bobby asked before being cut off.

"Yes, wouldn't make sense to get fully dressed for just a small time of day left," she replied.

"You are the best mom, Mom," Bobby said as he hugged Catherine.

Susan walked into the house.

"Mom, I'm home," she said.

"Oh, surprised you didn't come in earlier," Catherine replied.

"Real funny, Mother," she said.

"Well it's not dinner time, yet, are you going to take a nap?"

"Yeah, then I'll do my homework," Susan replied.

"Alright, Bobby is taking his bath so, mind that if you need the bathroom," Catherine said.

Lincoln and Ricky came home next. Catherine was vacuuming the floor she clicked off the machine as quickly as she could.

"Boys, take off your shoes and carry them to your rooms, I'm cleaning," she said.

"Yes, Mom," Ricky said.

"How was your first day, Lincoln?" she asked.

"It was good, I have homework though," he replied.

"Well, get on that, there's a rule here, you have to get that done first," she said.

The boys went upstairs to Ricky's room to work. Catherine continued vacuuming. Bobby finished his bath and was drying his hair with Susan's blow dryer, while Sherry was playing with Spangles and she was wearing her mouse costume. Russel came home last.

"Russel take off your shoes!", his mother said.

"What, did you just shampoo?" he asked.

"No, just vacuumed, tomorrow is shampoo day," she said.

"Mom, can I stay out longer tomorrow?" he asked.

"You mean past dinner?" she asked.

"Yeah!"

"Why?"

"I want to go bowling with the guys tomorrow."

"I thought you were going to watch the game tomorrow."

"That's if it doesn't get rained out again."

"Well, are you going to eat there or when you get home?"

"Probably there. Please, Mom, I really need to go."

"OK, but you better be home before 8 PM, understand me, it's still a school night and everything."

"Groovy Mom, thanks, you're the best."

"That's what they tell me."

Bobby sat down on his bed trying to figure out how the watch works.

"I think these buttons set the time," he said.

"Squeak, what are you doing?" Sherry asked as she walked into his room.

"Sherry! What are you doing?" he asked.

"Sorry, squeak, just wanted to see if you wanted to play with Spangles and me."

"I'm trying to figure out this watch."

"Can I see, squeak?"

"Be careful, you can look at it."

Sherry looked at the buttons on the side and started pressing them.

"What are you doing?"

"Touching the buttons, squeak."

"I said you could LOOK not touch."

"I think they set the time, though."

"Hmmm, wait a minute, you might be onto something, it's asking about the date."

"October is the 10th month so it must want 10, then it's' the 20th so 20, hmm year too, it's very accurate."

"Too bad, squeak, you have to press those buttons and not use the ones with numbers on them that would be much better, squeak."

"Oh well, what's the time, Sherry."

"Big hand on 9 the little hand is close towards the 5, so uhhhhh."

"Come on Sherry, you can do it!"

"It's 950, squeak."

"No that means it's 4:45pm, well now it's 4:46."

"Awww, squeak."

"It's alright, you'll get it, soon, and you could have just looked at my other clock over there."

Bobby looked at his watch and was impressed, he wondered where it came from and did anyone own it before?


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: This is a short chapter mostly because I didn't want it too bogged down. **

**Anyway, Let's see what the Louds are doing. **

**Thanks for reading, see you next time. **

* * *

Present Day Present Time

The Louds were in the living room listening to Lisa explain an important matter. It must have been important she had charts, a presentation, and graphics. Lynn threw a pillow at her

"Could you tell us what happened to Lincoln, in English?" Lynn asked.

"I'm sure I was explaining everything clearly," Lisa said.

"Honey, please tell us what happened where we could understand it," Rita said in an understanding tone.

"Fine, but I need to start from the beginning," she said.

"Alright, just please get to the point," Lori demanded.

"I had been working on teleportation, a hopeful and new mode of transportation if successful would cut the need for automobiles, planes, and trains. Now, this is great in theory, but during experimentation, things didn't go so well at first," she explained.

She clicked to a slide which showed her holding a stuffed animal.

"How Cute," Leni said.

"I obtained stuffed toys with some grant money and started testing the teleportation devices," she explained, "The problem was after each test the stuffed animals didn't return in one piece."

She showed a picture of a stuffed animal that looked completely mangled and unrecognizable.

"The problem with teleportation was that it was like a paper shredder to matter."

"Are you saying Lincoln used a teleporter and is, I can't even say it," Lori replied.

"While, that is possible, there are other variables as well," Lisa replied.

"You didn't use him for testing, did you?" asked Lynn with a scowl on her face.

"Perish that thought. If I could continue now," Lisa said, "I eventually found a way to work with teleportation without causing disfigurement and this slide shows that."

There was a video of her teleporting a stuffed rabbit from her room to the hallway in one piece. Then she clicked to a slide of another picture, this is off white wrist device.

"This here is a prototype design for a wrist device that can hold all matter together while transporting it from location a to location b. After tests showed positive results, I tried it myself and ended in Lincoln's room," she said.

She showed a slide of another similar wrist device that looked like a watch more than her prototype's design.

"I made a new device, but in transport, I found it was slightly unstable and then the device went missing after I landed in Lincoln's room," she continued.

"Wait, what does this have to do with Lincoln?" Lori questioned.

"From my last search of where the device was, it ended up in Lincoln's bed," she said.

"You think he put it on and ended up somewhere else?" Luna asked.

"Yes and No. The thing is his tracking chip stops tracking him after going to his room this afternoon and I have no status on where he went," Lisa explained.

"Maybe he just went out of the zone?" Lynn Sr. asked.

"Out of zone would have to be on a different planet or dimension even," she replied.

"Other dimension?" the others murmured to each other.

"There are possibilities that other dimensions exist," Lisa said.

"What about time travel?" Lana asked.

"Highly unlikely, as the watch wouldn't have that type of matter transport," Lisa answered.

"Do you know where he is?" Luan asked.

Lisa took off her glasses and polished them with her turtleneck and then put them back on.

"No, I lost any tracking of the watch as well as Lincoln, he would be anywhere, there's also something else," she said.

"Spit it out Lisa," Lynn commanded.

"There are possibilities that he could have changed forms in transport or even…" she gulped and showed another picture of a mangled stuffed bear, rabbit? something.

Everyone else but Leni gasped.

"Wait a minute, you are saying Leni could be a stuffed beaver?" Leni asked.

"No, Leni she's saying…." Lori finished the rest of her sentence by whispering in her sister's ear.

"Oh no. Linky!" Leni shouted.

"Now, that's a low chance I'm sure he would be fine, wherever or whatever he is," Lisa said.

That last part didn't comfort the family at all.

"Even though I can't trace the watch, I could recall it and retrieve Lincoln, if he's wearing it," Lisa mentioned.

"Why didn't you say that before?" Lola asked.

"Well older sister, it's not that easy," Lisa answered.

"Why not?" Leni asked, "We want Linky back!"

"I got a way to make it work, but it will take time for me to gather the materials," Lisa said.

"How much time?" Luan asked.

"I'm not sure, yet," Lisa said.

"What if Lincoln went to some dangerous spot?" Lana asked.

"I'm sure he'll be able to handle himself," she said then blinked for a second and continued, "If I place too much worry then I won't be able to get anything done."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Lynn asked.

"I guess the expression many hands make light work, works here, sure, but you have to follow my instructions," she said.

"What happens if we find Lincoln and he's, not Lincoln anymore?" Lucy asked.

Lisa grimaced at that words of the question. Sad faces in front her didn't make the thought any better and she needed to be careful with what she said next. She sighed and replied, "I'm sure he won't be a melted pile of goo, and anything else, I'm sure will be easy to deal with."

The twins looked close to bursting to tears. Maybe she shouldn't have said pile of goo.

"I'll lay the groundwork, and we shall work on this over the next few days. Maybe Lincoln might find his own way back before we even get finished," Lisa said.

Her kind optimism for Lincoln did put the family at ease she needed them not to be worried because worried people don't make good decisions. Now, if she could get over her worries.


	6. Chapter 6

_**AN: Here's another chapter, not much else to say but thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it. **_

* * *

Tuesday, October 21 1975

Bobby went into the attic to look for something. Lincoln was up there in what had become a makeshift room for him. He went through some of the boxes to look for a few items. Lincoln was curious and decided to check out what he was doing.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm trying to find some old clothes for Halloween costume ideas," Bobby said.

"You like to plan ahead, don't you?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure do. Hey, do you have your ideas for costumes?"

"I'm not really sure could be going any second."

"But, if you don't, then you'll miss out on Halloween."

"I guess you're right."

"Do you want to come to the comic book store with me?"

"Today?"

"Yeah! We still have time to go out before dark, and you might want to get some of your own favorites."

"Sure, let me get my jacket."

"Thanks, Lincoln, glad you wanted to go. Susan was of no use."

The two boys went outside to the backyard. It was another overcast and cool day, the weather had been like that for days. Lincoln used Susan's bike for their ride to the comic book store that was in the same spot it was during his time.

"Remember we have until about 4:30," Bobby said.

"That's a nice watch," Lincoln said.

"Oh yeah, amazingly, I found it in the park," he said holding it up to Lincoln's face, "Not sure what these number buttons do at all."

"Reminds me of a calculator watch; might be able to use those buttons for adding, subtracting, and more," Lincoln replied.

"That could come in handy to check prices for comic books," Bobby replied.

Lincoln looked around for "Ace Savvy" comics to see what they were offering. Since he was in the past, he was going to be seeing some comic books that might have become collectibles during his time. The prices were surprising as well, only being around 20 cents. Bobby looked around for some of his favorites and ended up bumping into someone he knew.

"What's up, Connie?" Bobby asked.

"Oh hey, you're Ricky's little brother, right?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, it's me, Bobby, and you should remember my name by now," a slightly annoyed Bobby replied.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean any harm," Connie said rubbing the back of his head.

Bobby felt he was sincere and let it go. They were in the horror section which did surprise him because Connie was a normally quiet and timid boy who didn't seem to be the type of guy who would read horror.

"So, are you getting any of those comics?" Bobby asked.

"Heck yes; I'm going to get; Chamber of Thrills," Connie replied.

"You really read horror comics?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"No reason, I'm here to get Aliens From Earth and Dark Whistler's latest issues."

"Cool beans; I love those series."

"I'm also getting Jungle Lord," Bobby replied.

"I haven't read that," Connie said.

"You should; it's about a boy who lives in the jungle."

"Oh, a story of survival."

The two of them went to the section where "Jungle Lord" comics were. Bobby grabbed one of the issues and showed it to Connie. The light blond-haired boy adjusted his glasses and looked at the cover of the comic.

"If you are going to dress-up for Halloween, you should be him," Bobby suggested.

"I.. I don't think that would work, it'll probably be cold anyway," Connie replied.

Lincoln had grabbed a couple "Ace Savvy" comic books with the price coming together being a total of 40 cents. He looked for any other comics he might have wanted. On the other side of the store, Bobby and Connie were poking around the sci-fi comic books.

"Are you here with Ricky?" Connie asked.

"Nope, I thought you would be with him," Bobby answered.

"So Susan brought you?"

"Nope."

"No Way! Russel wouldn't be caught dead here."

"I'm here with Lincoln."

"Sorry, I forgot about your cousin."

"He's actually a time traveler from the future."

"You're a funny dude."

"You don't believe me?"

"There's no such thing as time travel."

"He has this machine that he calls a phone; It can take pictures, play music, TV shows, and has games of some sort."

"While that sounds twitchin', it would take a lot of computer power to accomplish such a thing."

"He said the next president would be Jimmy Carter."

"Jimmy Carter says the next president is going to be Jimmy Carter."

Lincoln walked over after looking for his "younger cousin" and found him talking with Connie.

"There you are I'm ready to check out and go home," he said.

"Sure Lincoln, oh you've met Connie before right?" Bobby asked.

"Ricky introduced me to him before, nice to see you again," Lincoln said.

"Same here, your cousin is funny," Connie replied.

"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked

"He's saying you are from the future," Connie said.

Lincoln looked at Bobby who was biting his bottom lip and looked back over Connie who had large smile on his face. Finally, he sighed and cleared his throat.

"That's funny; we're about to leave though," he said.

"The time is getting there isn't it, mind waiting up for me?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, I'll wait," Lincoln replied.

Bobby and Lincoln went over to wait in line for the cashier.

"Why didn't tell him that you are from the future?" Bobby asked.

"I thought we weren't supposed to tell anyone," Lincoln said.

"Connie's groovy; he wouldn't go around blabbing," Bobby reassured.

"Maybe, I think about it," Lincoln said.

While waiting for their turn to pay, Bobby looked at his watch to try out the supposed calculator feature. He had picked up six different comic books: three were 20 cents, two were 25 cents, and one was 15 cents. Those numbers were punched into the watch by him to get the result.

"It looks like 202,020,252,515," he said.

"You were supposed to press the plus button," Lincoln responded.

"I did; I guess it doesn't work," Bobby said defeatedly.

"It's $1.25," Lincoln said.

"Thanks; That's going to be a large chunk of my allowance," Bobby replied.

The two of them rode bikes with Connie back to his house.

"Thanks, I'd invite you inside but, I don't want you guys to be late home," Connie said.

"Maybe next time," Bobby said.

"Yeah, see you later," Lincoln said.

Lincoln and Bobby made back home, happy with their purchases.

"Thanks for coming with me; it's nice there's someone else in this house interested in comic books," Bobby said.

"You're welcome," Lincoln replied.

While in his room. Bobby tried to figure out what the purpose of the watch's buttons was. He tried to see if they were a calculator. "Let's see, I'm eight now; how old would I be in 45 years," he said. He pressed "8" then the "+" symbol with "4" and "5", finally the "=" symbol. Then there was a knock at his door with his mother opening the door.

"I thought you were going to watch the World Series?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm about to it hasn't started yet," he said.

"Looks like it's been on for awhile, well you still have a little over 15 minutes left before bed," she replied.

"But you gave me an extra hour," he replied.

"Yes, until nine, it's near quarter to nine, now,"she answered.

"No, it's almost eight," he said.

"You aren't going to trick me that easily," she said.

He looked over at his clock; it just turned to 8:44. It was 7:50 when he last looked. "How did I miss, 53 minutes?" he thought. Then he looked over at his mother for a request.

"If there's a game seven tomorrow, could I stay up till nine again, I'll help with dishes again?" he asked.

"You want take Ricky's turn with Susan?" she asked.

"Oh, could I take Susan's turn and be with Ricky?" he asked.

"No, you can have Ricky's turn; and I'll take your request," she said.

"Ok, Ok, I'll do it," he said.

"Deal, now go watch the last 15 minutes before you have to go to bed," she said.

He went down to the living room where Russel, Susan, and his father were watching TV.

"Susan, 8 plus 45 is 53, right?" he asked.

"Uhh yeah, why?" she asked.

"Wanted to check if you knew math correctly," he said.

"Well, there you are," his father said.

"Yeah, how come none of you came and got me for the game?" Bobby asked.

The three of them shrugged at his question.

The watch was right with math, after all, and tried subtracting 53 from 53. Somehow, he ended up on the floor and had a headache. Russel and his father weren't in the living room anymore; it was just Susan watching "The Brady Bunch. He rubbed his temples and fixed his glasses. She jumped.

"Bobby! What are you doing?"

"Susan, where is everyone?" he asked.

"What are you talking about?" she questioned.

"Where's Russel and Dad?"

"Why? They weren't just in here."

"But you three were watching the game."

"That hasn't even started yet, it's only 7:53."

"What? The game was on , Boston was leading 3-0 in the 2nd."

"Are you alright there?"

"No, my head hurts for some reason."

Susan got from her spot on the couch to check her younger brother; he seemed dizzy and looked a little green. He may have cracked on her a lot, but she still didn't want him to be sick or hurt.

"Come on, sit down, on the couch," she said.

She walked him over to the couch and helped him sit down.

"I'm going to get you some water, don't move," she said.

After drinking some water and relaxing for a few minutes, he felt better.

"Thanks, Susan," he said.

"I was a little worried about you there, glad you are alright," she said.

"Don't get all mushy on me," he replied.

Sherry came into Russel's room and tapped him on the shoulder as he was listening to music on his headphones.

"What is it ?" he asked.

"Do you want to play with me,squeak?" she asked.

"No mouse girl, I'm trying to listen to this new album," he replied.

"Please, Russel, play with me, that's what older brothers are supposed to do, squeak," she said.

"I don't want to do that right now," he said.

"Fine," she replied.

She stomped out of his room, and some tears were running down her cheeks. She tried Susan's room; the oldest Pearson girl was doing her homework.

"Susan, do you want to play with me, squeak?" she asked.

"I'm busy, have to do my homework," Susan said.

"You should have done that earlier, squeak," Sherry replied.

"I was taking a nap," Susan said.

"That's because you were up late reading, squeak," Sherry said.

"Just go on, Sherry," Susan said.

Once again, she left slightly heartbroken. She was going to check if Ricky was available when she spotted Lincoln going up to the attic.

"Lincoln, squeak, do you want to play with me?" she asked.

"Well. I was about to go up and read my new comic books," he said.

"It's just, you'd think with 5 other kids in this house, someone would want to play with their younger sister, squeak," she replied.

He saw her sad face, slightly red from tears, and maybe his older brother instincts kicked in because he agreed to play with her. She jumped with joy at his answer. Then, she grabbed his arm and pulled him to her room.

"Look Spangles, we have a friend to play with us," she said to her trusted mouse.

He twitched his nose, seemingly to acknowledge the white-haired boy in the room.

"Have you held Spangles before, squeak," she asked.

"No, I don't think so," Lincoln replied.

"Ah, you should," she said.

First, she walked over to her door and closed it, then she opened the cage and let Spangles out, and finally had Lincoln cup his hands.

"Squeak, Spangles, get into Lincoln's hands, he's groovy," she said.

The mouse walked into Lincoln's cupped hands.

"He likes you," she said.

"Uh, hey Spangles," he said.

Spangles twitched at him with his head cocked up, looking at the boy.

"So, what are we playing?" Lincoln asked.

Sherry looked at Lincoln with a confused face she hadn't figured out what she wanted to play her concern was getting someone to play with her in the first place.

"Do you know how to play checkers?" she asked.

"Yeah," he responded.

"Good, because I don't; could you teach me?" she asked.

"Sure," he said.

"Come on, Spangles, so Lincoln can show you as well," she said.

The mouse jumped into her hands, walked up to her arm, and make it to her shoulder.

After about an hour, Katherine came into the room meaning, one thing. "Sherry, it's time to get ready for bed," she said. The young girl bowed her head.

"I'll give you ten minutes to get ready," her mother said.

"Squeak, ok," she said.

"Thanks for spending some time with her, Lincoln," Katherine replied.

"Sure, I think she knows how to play checkers now," Lincoln replied.

"Great, we may have to play each other one day," she said.

Katherine left the door way to continue with her evening missions. Sherry hugged Lincoln.

"Thanks, squeak, for spending time with me," she replied.

"No problem," Lincoln said.

"I bet you do that with your little sisters all the time; I love love to meet them," she replied.

"Yeah, that would be cool, though you would be like 40 something by the time you could," Lincoln mentioned.

"Woah, I'll be old," she said.

After getting ready for bed, she requested that Lincoln read her bedtime which he obliged. He read her a story until she fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Present Day… Present Time

Lisa had seen from information on her computer: the wrist device had been used, and it sent a signal. She had a hopeful but reserved smile. Maybe Lincoln had found it and was trying to figure it out. The important thing was that she had a signal and could now retrieve the watch and maybe Lincoln.

"I caution you all; all I know is that I found the watch signal," she said to her sisters.

"Do you where it is?" Lana asked.

"No, I only know the signal is transmitting," Lisa said.

"How do we get the watch?" Lynn asked.

"I need you to plug this into the generator," Lisa said.

"So, that's why those parts were important," Lana replied.

"Correct, It requires a tremendous amount of power, that could cause a power outage if we used the house's power," Lisa explained.

Following the four-year-old's instructions, the Loud sisters worked to get the equipment together. Everything was in check for Lisa to proceed with part two of the plan.

"I hope this works, and he comes in salvageable," Lisa said.

"Salvageable?" Lori asked.

"Remember when I explained my earlier teleportation experiments?" she inquired.

"Yes," Lori answered.

"There's still a chance he might not come back in one piece, or look the same as before," Lisa explained.

"You said it was working," Lori remarked.

"Yes, but he might have gone to a different dimeson, there's no telling what happened," she replied.

Lori noticed but didn't mention the slight tears coming from Lisa's face. Being the oldest sister meant that Lori had to keep optimistic for her younger siblings' sake.

"Alright, we are going to try to get Lincoln back," she said, "No matter what, we will still love him."

"Yeah! Even if he has become like Lisa's stuffed animals," Leni said.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Lola said.

"Leni...no," Lori replied.

"Sorry, I just wanted to say I love Linky," Leni said.

"Let's get this done, "Lisa replied.

"So, where does Lincoln appear?" Lynn asked.

"The device will appear somewhere in this house; I don't have it pin-pointed, exactly," Lisa answered.

She opened up space on the wall to show screens that showed views of the entire house.

"If he's there, we'll be able to see where he appears," Lisa replied.

"I should be annoyed you have these cameras all over the place," Lori said.

"Ha, like this house offers privacy," Lisa replied.

"You're not wrong," Lori said.

Lisa gave her family members some goggles and proceeded to type in codes on the computer. It asked, "Do you want to retrieve wrist watch 2?" She typed in "Yes" then hit enter, and gulped. The rest of the Louds had their collective fingers crossed.

* * *

Bobby Pearson woke up and didn't remember taking a nap. The last thing he remembered was going to his room and laying out on his bed to read a comic book. The room was different: there was a second bed with a black canopy, for example.

"Where am I?" he asked himself.

He got up from the bed and looked around; he was in his house still, that he could tell.

"Where have I seen this room before?" was his second question.

The watch felt warm, and he noticed it had a different time on its face. He pulled a strand of his long hair and felt pain.

"It's not a dream," he said, "This place looks like Lincoln's house."

He looked around for verification.

"He showed me a picture of this room, that means one thing happened," he replied, "It's like my comic book, aliens were trying to abduct Lincoln. They made up a fake Loud house to make Lincoln think he's home, but they grabbed me instead," he replied.

Bobby shivered because, in his mind, aliens could be right there ready to attack.

Lisa looked at her computer screen to verify that the process of retrieving the watch had been some success. It seemed to have worked.

"Lisa, there's someone in Lynn and Lucy's room," Luan said.

"Hmm, do they look intact?" she asked.

"Yeah, but doesn't look like Lincoln," Luan said.

Lisa looked at the screen and took down some notes,

"Brown hair, glasses, striped long-sleeved shirt, blue overalls, and missing a couple of teeth," she replied.

"Could that be Lincoln?" Leni asked.

"That's ridiculous, no way could that be Lincoln!" Lynn asserted.

"It could be him, a process of DNA redistribution during teleport could have caused central changes to his appearance," Lisa replied.

"What's the chance that someone else had the watch?" Luna asked.

"I'd give it fifty percent, anything could have happened," Lisa answered.

"We should go see him!" Leni shouted.

"Wait; this is a delicate situation, It might cause more harm if well all just approach him," Lisa said.

"She's right if that is Lincoln, he might be shocked, confused, and scared; right now and if it's not; he might know where Lincoln is; we would need his help," Lori said.

"Lynn, Lana, and I will check out the situation," Lisa said.

"Woah, why do you three get to it?" Lola asked.

"Lynn has strength in case of matters going wrong, Lana is approachable, and I'm there to study and observe," Lisa replied.

"Can I come?" Leni asked.

"Sorry, Leni, your emotions might cause an adverse reaction in this situation," Lisa said.

"Is there anything we can do?" Luna asked.

"Lola, Luna, and Luan guard the exits of the house, Lucy, Lori, and Lilly can observe the screens, and if I give a signal then to come and assist us, Leni, make some food; Lincoln or not he might be hungry," Lisa commanded.

Bobby walked over to the door and touched it. After it didn't open, he turned the knob and opened it carefully. He checked around the hallway was empty.

"Hmm, no aliens," he whispered.

He looked around the room, found Lynn's baseball bat, and clutched it in his hands. Slowly, he opened the door and walked out of the bedroom, staying close to the walls as he went. The hallway was familiar but different; he thought the aliens had done a great job of copying a house.

Lisa, Lana, and Lynn walked out of Lisa's room and slowly made it to Lynn and Lucy's room. The door was open, and nobody was inside.

"Well, whoever that was, he knows how to open doors," Lynn said.

"The exits are blocked, so no chance of him leaving," Lisa announced.

"If he is Lincoln, he could have gone into his room," Lana replied.

"Lori, do you see him?" Lisa called using a walkie talkie.

"I don't see him any of the rooms," Lori said.

"That either means he's hiding or in the bathroom," Lisa said.

"The bathroom?" Lana questioned.

"Yes, I don't have a camera in the bathroom," she answered.

"Here's an idea, you two search around; I'll stand by the bathroom and wait," Lynn said.

"Good idea," Lisa said.

They broke up, Lisa and Lana went searching the rooms in places where the cameras couldn't pick up. Lynn stood and waited by the door. Bobby was holding the bat firmly while sitting in the bathtub.

"I can't believe this is happening. Stupid aliens, I wish I had a gun, not sure this bat could take them," he thought.

"He has to be in that bathroom," Lynn said.

"Well, he must have gone downstairs; let's go look for him down there," Lana yelled.

"Why are you yelling, Sister?" Lisa asked.

"I'm making him think he can leave since no one is there," Lana whispered.

"Yeah, this whole part of the house is bare, let's go!" Lynn yelled.

"Those aliens are stupid to the max to try a trick that I've seen on _Leave it To Beaver reruns_," Bobby thought.

"I thought that would get him out; maybe he's not in there," Lana said.

"I just remembered, you know how Lincoln's room has that emergency slide?" Lynn said.

The three girls looked at each other and ran to Lincoln's room.

* * *

Bobby overheard the girls and took this as a chance to leave the bathroom. He opened the door quietly and shuffled out of the bathroom slowly.

"There you are," Lynn said.

He gulped there was Lisa, Lana, and Lynn standing there starring at him.

"Those are some twitchin' human disguises, aliens, but you aren't abducting me!" he shouted.

"Human disguises?" questioned Lynn.

"Twitchin'?" Lisa wondered.

"Abducting?" Lana asked.

During their confusion, he swung the bat and hit Lynn in the right shin, causing her to howl in pain. Taking his chance, he ran downstairs. Lynn chased after the boy. Bobby had known the layout of the house well. Of course, he ran into another "alien" Luna was the front door. He waved the bat causing, her to move out of the way. Unfortunately, Luan was on the other side, protecting from the outside.

"Knock, Knock," Luan said.

"Ahhhhhh!" Bobby screamed

The eight-year-old scrambled and ran through the dining room and made it to the kitchen. Leni and Lola were there. Leni was easy to scare with a bat Lola, on the other hand, snapped the bat in half when she grabbed it. Bobby saw the dog door and pushed Lola out of the way, squeezed through the door, and felt something grab his left leg.

"No, No, No!" he screamed.

What grabbed him, pulled him back into the house. It was Lynn her face was red, and she didn't seem pleased about being hit in the shin with a bat.

"I got him!" she yelled.

She held him by squeezing his arms and made sure he couldn't move. He was shivering and thought up one more idea. He bit Lynn when he was free again and ran out the back door only to be caught by Lori.

"Let me go!" he yelled.

He kept kicking Lori as she held him in her arms and walked to the back door of the house. Feeling defeated and being an eight-year-old, he did one last thing: cry.

"Why did you make him cry?" Leni asked.

"I didn't make him cry, he just literally started," Lori replied.

"I should give him a reason to cry, he bit me and hit me with a bat," Lynn said.

"Dudes, calm down," Luna said.

"We all should calm down and must understand that Lincoln may have gone through some trauma," Lisa said.

"If that is Lincoln," Lynn added.

Bobby heard them as he laid on the floor, thinking of how to get out of there. They thought he was Lincoln? Maybe they were dumb aliens and could use this to his advantage. Strange, they had modeled their ship off Lincoln's house and looked like Lincoln's sisters but, they forgot what the appearance of the person they were supposed to be abducting. So, he faked that he had gone to sleep.

"Wait, where is he?" Lori asked.

Lynn looked around the kitchen and saw him lying under the table.

"He's under the table and sleeping," she replied.

"Poor guy tired himself out," Leni stated.

Lisa walked over to Bobby and woke him up, explaining that he needed to be cognitive until she could make sure he was alright. Bobby faked waking up; by yawning and smacking the inside of his mouth.

"Dearest brother, I understand you might be tired but, I need to stay up until I can clear you health-wise," Lisa replied.

"Hey, it's my little sister!" Bobby yelled.

Bobby looked around the room, trying to remember their names from what Lincoln told him.

"You remember her?" Lori asked.

"I'm sorry, my head hurts a little," Bobby said.

Lisa rubbed her chin.

"So, what is your name?" Lisa asked.

"Uhh Lincoln Loud, I'm eleven-years-old, live at 1216 Franklin Avenue in Royal Woods Michigan, I like Ace Savvy comics, and have ten sisters," he replied.

"Do you remember where you went?" Lisa questioned.

"A few places," Bobby answered.

"What were they like?" Leni asked.

Bobby considered some of his comic books. "Aliens don't read comic books," he thought.

"There was one place it was all orange and smelled like soap, the creatures there were shaped like cats," he replied, "There was another place with aliens who had straws for mouths- wanting to suck my brains out."

"That explains his aliens talk," Lynn replied.

"Do you know, your appearance has changed?" Lisa questioned.

"Oh yeah, my hair's longer and not white anymore, I think I'm shorter, and no chipped tooth."

Lisa wrote down something in her notebook.

"Do you know how this happened?" Lisa inquired.

"Well no, I just remembered, I was in this mirror world and saw my reflection: it was quite a surprise," he said.

"Do you feel any pain, sickness, or any other discomfort?" Lisa asked.

"I'm hungry," he said.

"Hey, I'll make something for you to eat, Linky," Leni said.

"Thanks, tall blonde girl," he said.

The Louds frowned.

"You don't remember her name?" Lori asked.

"I'm sorry, I think my mind got scrambled a little bit," Bobby said.

They believed him, and each one told him their names.

"I have a question, how did I end up getting into different worlds?" Bobby asked.

Everyone else looked at Lisa, nudging her to explain.

"Well, only brother, the watch on your wrist ended up near you somehow, and transported, to put it simply," Lisa said.

"Wow, power watch," he said.

* * *

Bobby ate some of the Lasanga that Leni had warmed up. He felt the 20 pairs of eyes staring at him like they never seen someone eat before. He had never had alien-food before, but it tasted like food, at least. So far, it never occurred to him that they were Lincoln's real family.

"This food is twitchin'," he replied.

"It's not moving at all," Leni said.

"What? No, that means the food is good," Bobby explained.

As he continued to eat, he noticed they were still starring at him.

"Why are you looking at me?" he asked.

Luan gulped.

"It, just hard to believe you are Lincoln, are you alright?" She asked with concern.

"It's strange but, I'm at least in one piece and not alien food," he replied.

That was a comforting statement in a way.

"Lisa, is there any way you can change me back?" he asked.

The child prodigy had no change in facial expression, just a neutral face.

"It might be nearly impossible," she replied.

"I kinda figured that."

After he finished eating, he went to Lisa's room, per her request, for examination. He didn't want to do this, but couldn't break character or let on that he knew they were aliens again. If she did anything too dangerous or weird, he'd try to stop it.

"Alright, I need to check this transport device," she said.

"No way!" he thought.

When she touched the watch, he screamed.

"What's wrong," she said, clutching her chest.

"It hurt when you touched the watch," he said.

"Hmm, I wonder if your DNA had fused with it," Lisa replied.

"Well, don't touch it, then," Bobby replied.

"Understood," Lisa said.

Bobby looked down at his wrist and started poking the watch's buttons.

"Don't touch those buttons!" Lisa yelled.

"Why not?"

"You don't know why?"

"No, why not?"

"That's the device that caused you to teleport in the first place, and you don't know where you'll end up. "

"Is there one that can take you where you were before?"

"That's if you press the minus key and hold it for 30 seconds."

"Oh good, I don't want to hit a button and end up somewhere by accident."

Lisa, unknowingly, gave him information that he could use to get out of this situation. He was going to wait for the right time to leave.

"Where did you acquire these clothes?" she asked.

"Uhh, I don't know," he said.

The four-year-old sighed.

"Do you mind taking off your socks and shoes?" she asked.

"Why?"

"I need to check a few things," she said.

"Hmm, don't take my stuff," he said.

He took off his shoes and socks, and Lisa was wearing a medical mask and gloves. She looked at his feet to check for any scars and abnormalities.

"Could you get on that scale, please?" she asked.

"Why?" he asked.

"I want to check your weight and height," she said.

He walked over, got to the scale, and Lisa wrote down the weight and height.

"You are shorter and lighter than previously," she said.

"Well, duh," he said.

"I've noticed that you have regressed in age," she said.

"I what?" he asked.

"You've gone down in age, I'd say you've become seven to nine years old," she said.

"Bummer," he replied.

"Anyway, I've checked everything, nothing seems out of normal besides the change of appearance," she said.

"Awesome, can I split now?" he asked.

"I would like a DNA sample to see how much it has changed," she said.

"How...are you going to get that?"

"You don't remember? I use a cotton swab and rub the inside of your cheek," she said.

"Oh, yeah, ok," he said.

Bobby was sent to Lincoln's room to rest and stay out of the way for a while. He complied, it was nice to be left alone to figure out how to get out. Meanwhile, the Louds were having a sibling meeting.

"Now, we have to explain to Mom and Dad, that Lincoln doesn't look like Lincoln," Lori said.

"Lisa, are you sure that was Lincoln?" Luan asked.

"He seemed to know information that Lincoln would know even with some scattered memory problems," Lisa replied.

"So, is he alright?" Lola asked.

"To a point, I have to figure out how to get that watch off him," she said.

"Wait, he's still wearing it?" Lori asked.

"He experienced pain when I just touched it, so I left it on," she said.

"We left him alone with that thing still on?" Lynn asked.

Quickly, they made it to Lincoln's room, and there was no occupant there, the Pearson boy was gone.

"Don't you have a tracking device in him?" Lynn asked.

"I didn't put a new one in because he seemed to be wary of anything I did," Lisa replied.

"Maybe he used the watch again," Lana said.

The group ran to Lisa's room and found it a mess. She looked at her computer and noticed that he indeed did use the watch.

"Well, we can get him back, right?" Lori asked.

"I'm not sure," Lisa replied.

"Why did he leave?" Lucy asked.

"It could have happened again; it was a highly unstable device, and it could have gone off again," she said.

"Poor Linky," Leni said.

November 7th, 1975

Bobby opened his eyes and felt groggy. He was in his room again, and it was his real room. He rolled over and fell off his bed, making a thud sound, and felt a little woozy. Lincoln happened to be in the hall when he heard the noise and decided to check it out.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Hey Lincoln, yeah, I'm alright," he said.

"That's good, did you take a nap or something?" Lincoln asked.

"I must have had a dream then," Bobby answered.

"A dream?"

"Yeah, I had a dream I was abducted by aliens, and they looked like your sisters," he said.

"That is strange."

"Yeah it is, It felt so real too."

"Come on, Let's get a snack."

The two boys walked out of the room, Bobby still wondered if that was real or if he had a strong imagination.


	8. Chapter 8

November 27th, 1975- Thanksgiving

Awake. Lincoln was awake he yawned, rubbed his eyes: removing the crust, and stretching. He realized what the day was: Thanksgiving. The length of time he had been in 1975 had gone beyond one month by this point. Thanksgiving reminded him of his family.

"Sherry, stop taking the cherries out of the pie crust!" Katherine yelled.

"I didn't," Sherry said.

The red goo from the canned cherries on her face told a different story.

"Are Grandma and Granpa coming for Thanksgiffin?" Sherry asked.

"That's Thanksgiving, and no," Katerine replied.

"How about aunts, uncles, and cousins?" Sherry asked.

"We'll have relatives over during Christmas," Katherine replied.

"I wanted them to meet Lincoln," she said.

She grabbed her mouse to make sure he didn't go off into any trouble.

"Connie is coming over," Katherine said.

"Why?"

"His parents don't celebrate Thanksgiving, and his grandparents are out of town."

"Why don't his parents celebrate Thanksgrfiting?"

"Thanksgiving, I forgot, I tend to tune them out when they talk."

"Is that because they are hippos?"

"Hippies."

"Do you think it might snow more?"

"The man on the radio said ti's not going to much more."

Poking her finger into the pumpkin pie filling and plopping it into her mouth, Sherry smiled with satisfaction.

"Would you stop eating the stuff, before I bake it!" Katherine shouted.

"It was one bite," Sherry said.

Spangles cowered; he wasn't a fan of loud noises.

"You scared Spangles," Sherry said.

"Well, you shouldn't be eating my stuff," her mother said.

"You should apologize to him."

Katherine put the dishcloth she had in her hand on the counter and bent her head down to the mouse's level.

"I'm sorry, Spangles, maybe you could tell her to stop eating my stuff," Katherine said.

"That's not funny, trying to turn Spangles against me," Sherry pouted.

The conversation, inside the kitchen, stopped when Lincoln entered.

"Happy Thanksgifting," Sherry said.

"That's...", Katherine started to say, when she noticed Lincoln, "Happy Thanksgiving, Lincoln."

"Thanks and happy Thanksgiving," he said.

"Mommy, when is the parade?" Sherry asked.

"Ugh, it's in 30 minutes, 30 minutes too long if you ask me," she replied.

"It smells good in here," Lincoln said.

"Thank you, working on Thanksgiving dinner," Katherine replied.

"I helped," Sherry interjected.

"Yes, and now she's trying to eat my pies before they are baked," Katherine said.

"The pies don't want to be baked!"

Lincoln laughed internally. He noticed Spangles was staying close to Sherry and not wandering about doing whatever mice do.

"Hey Spangles, Happy Thanksgiving," he said.

The mouse cocked his head up and twitched his nose.

"That was a nice thing to say, Spangles," Sherry replied.

"Lincoln, since the kitchen is busy, breakfast is going to be cereal; you and Sherry can sit in the living room," Katherine said.

"But, I'm helping you," Sherry whined.

"You helped me enough, thanks, Sweetie," her mother said.

Looking out the window, the two of them saw snow. It wasn't much, just a layer covering the ground and trees.

"Do they have snow in the future?" Sherry asked.

"Yeah, snow exists in the future," Lincoln answered.

"There's Thankslifting in the future?" Sherry asked.

"Yeah, Thanksgiving exists in the future," Lincoln answered that as well.

After finishing his cereal, he went to put it away and greeted by Susan, who was walking down the stairs.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Lincoln," she said.

"Same to you, Susan," he replied.

She rubbed her eyes and stretched.

.

The girl went to the window and noticed the snow.

"You would fall on the day we don't have school," Susan said to the snow.

"Happy Thanksmiving," Sherry said.

"Thanksgiving, and hello little sis," Susan said.

"Are you ready to see the parade?" Sherry questioned.

"Of course, then it's football!" Susan said.

Bobby had eventually joined his sisters and Lincoln to watch the parade. There was a knock at the door Susan stood up, adjusted her oversized shirt, and walked to the door. She opened the door where she saw Connie. He was wearing a coat, scarf, earmuffs, boots, gloves, and a backpack.

"Connie, what are you doing here?" she asked.

The boy spoke but she couldn't understand him.

"You should take off the scarf," she said.

"Oh, Happy Thanksgiving, Susan," he said.

"So, why are you here?" she asked.

"Your parents said I could come over since my parents don't celebrate Thanksgiving."

"That's because they are mondo weird."

"Can I come in? It's cold."

"Fine, come in, I'm getting cold too."

Off came to his coat, scarf, earmuffs, gloves, and backpack. He knew where to put the stuff.

"Hey, Connie," Katherine said.

"How's it going, ? Happy Thanksgiving," he said.

He opened his backpack and gave her a plastic container.

"This is for dinner; I made it myself," he said.

"You did?" Susan questioned.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you; you really made this yourself?" Katherine asked.

"Yep," he answered.

"It's not something funky like your parents would make?" Susan asked.

"Susan!" her mother scolded.

"It's alright, no, it's one of my grandma's recipes," he answered.

"Thank you, it will make a great addition to our meal," Katherine said.

"I was wondering, could I spend the night here?" Connie asked.

"If it's alright with your parents," Katherine replied.

* * *

Calvin, Russel, Ricky, and Susan had settled to watch some football. The Detriot Lions were playing the Los Angeles Rams.

"The Lions are going lose," Ricky said.

"Dad, can we kick him out?" Russel asked.

"You're just mad I'm stating facts," Ricky said.

Katherine yawned as she walked into the living room.

"I'm going to take a nap, I've been up since 5 AM," she said.

"Alright, Honey, I'll make sure nothing burns," Calvin said.

"You better, I'm not in the money to burn game," she said.

"Sleep well, Mom," Ricky said.

"Oh, and make sure Sherry stays away from the food and doesn't go into the kitchen unattended, we don't need a repeat of last year," Katherine said.

Flashback to Thanksgiving 1974

"Sherry Pearson!" Katherine yelled.

Her daughter was lying on the dining room floor, and covered with blueberry stains on her face and clothes. The turkey was missing a leg, and she had a pie tin on her lap.

Going back to Thanksgiving '75

"I thought that happened two years ago," Susan said.

"No, that was when she ate the green bean casserole and left the rest on the floor," Katherine replied.

"Ah yeah, she saved us from Aunt Gloria's awful casserole," Russel said.

"Hush, Russel," his father said.

"I thought that happened when she was three," Ricky said.

"No, that was when she knocked all the food off the table, pulling the table cloth," Katherine recalled.

"Oh yeah, the Thanksgiving Pizza," Ricky said.

"The point is to keep her from bothering the food," the mother said.

"You should tell the kids upstairs; they're with her," Russel said.

"Quiet, Russel, listen to your mother, we'll make sure she behaves," Calvin said.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Lincoln was with the others planning to read comic books.

"Do you guys want to play dress-up with me?" Sherry asked.

"Sorry, Sherry, I want to read some comic books," Lincoln said.

Bobby pulled Lincoln and Connie a little away from Sherry.

"I think we should spend some time with her," he whispered.

"Why?" Connie asked.

"She really shouldn't be left alone on Thanksgiving," the eight-year-old replied.

"Why is that?" Lincoln asked.

"She'll bother the food," Bobby answered.

"Isn't your Mom downstairs?" Connie asked.

"She's probably taking a nap," Bobby replied.

"Your siblings and dad are downstairs," Lincoln added.

"They aren't going to notice until it's too late," Bobby said.

"Ricky did tell me that she got into the pie last year," Connie replied.

"Last Christmas, she drank some of the grown-ups wine, not knowing what it was," Bobby said.

"Oh yeah, I remember that she barfed all over Susan," Connie said.

"That was funny," Bobby said.

Lincoln turned around and saw Sherry holding Spangles in her hands.

"Alright, Sherry, we'll play with you for a while," he said.

She jumped with joy.

"Lincoln, can you get the box with old clothes?" she asked.

"Where is that?" he asked.

"In your room, in the box," Sherry replied.

"I'll show you Lincoln," Bobby said.

The other boy stayed behind with Sherry to make sure she didn't leave.

The four of them had made it to Sherry's room. Connie was intrigued but slightly nervous about Spangles.

"What are these clothes for anyway?" Lincoln asked.

"They're a mixture of old clothes, collected, mostly Russel, Susan, and Ricky's old clothes," Bobby answered.

Sherry looked inside the box.

"This would be perfect for Connie," she replied.

Inside her hands was a basketball uniform, that probably was once Russel's.

"You want me to wear that?" Connie asked.

"Yeah!"

He grabbed the uniform and slinked out of the room.

"He could have just changed in here," Bobby said.

"I think he's shy," Sherry said.

She grabbed a dress from the box and pointed at her brother.

"You want me to wear that?" Bobby asked.

The six-year-old nodded.

Bobby grabbed the plaid dress and changed into it at the corner of the room.

"What, do you want me to do?" Lincoln asked.

"Let's see," Sherry replied.

She dug into the box, looking for the perfect thing for Lincoln to wear.

"Ah, here we go," she replied.

In her hands was a suit.

"You can be fancy," she said.

Lincoln sighed and took the suit pants and jacket from her hands. He grabbed into his pocket and took out his phone to set it aside, but then it fell out of his hands on to the floor.

"What's this?" Connie asked.

The boy had come back into the room.

"That's Lincoln's future phone," Sherry answered.

"Future phone?" he asked.

"Well, I..." Lincoln stammered.

"Remember, when I told you Lincoln is from the future?" Bobby asked.

Connie was quiet as he looked at the device, he held it upside down, poked the screen with his fingers, and even smelled it.

"I've never seen such a machine before, it's amazing!"

"Yeah, I'm from the future and stuck here," Lincoln admitted.

"That would explain a few things about you," Connie replied.

"So now you believe it?" Bobby asked.

"Sure, can you show me how it works?" Connie asked.

"Wait, do you mind, Sherry?" Lincoln asked.

"Nah, this gives me time to work on Bobby's hair," Sherry said.

"You want to what?" Bobby asked.

Lincoln showed Connie pictures of his family and friends. He also showed some of the other features on his phone.

"This is Farout! It does so much at once," he said.

"You should take a picture, Lincoln," Sherry said.

"I don't mind," Connie said.

"You should get Bobby; with his nice hairstyle," Sherry said.

"Wait; what?" Bobby asked.

"It's groovy," Sherry replied.

In the mirror, Bobby saw that his sister had given him two messy pigtails.

"Sherry!" Bobby groaned.

"Connie, you should let me do yours too," Sherry said.

"Wait; why?" Connie asked.

"Because, you have long hair too," she said.

After Lincoln took the pictures, Sherry changed her mind and wanted to play Monopoly, instead of doing a dress-up tea party.

"This is better than regular Monopoly," Lincoln said.

The young girl's rules were strange, and not the norm for Monopoly, but at least she was consistent. The mouse was included, with Lincoln being his official dice roller.

"How am I losing to a mouse?" Connie asked.

"Because he cheats," Bobby said.

"Spangles doesn't cheat," Sherry replied.

"That's because of you two working together," Bobby accused.

"Lincoln's the one rolling the dice!" Sherry yelled.

"Hey, I'm not helping him cheat," Lincoln said.

Sherry and Bobby laughed.

"What's so funny?" Lincoln asked.

"You've become one of us," Bobby said.

Eventually, Sherry let the boys read comic books which, they were happy to do.

"Dad, it's been kind of quiet," Susan said.

"That's because the Lions are down 20-nothing," Calvin said.

"No, I mean herry-shay," Susan replied.

"You don't think she got into the food, do you?" the father asked.

"At this rate, she might have eaten some of the pies and yams," Ricky said.

"Go check, Russel," Calvin said.

"Why do I have to check?" Russel whined.

"Because I'm your father and I said so," Calvin replied.

"I'll go check if she's still upstairs," Susan said.

"Kiss up," Russel replied.

"I was right, you know?" Ricky said.

"Jinx, that's what you are," Calvin said.

Susan checked Sherry's room and saw Sherry there with Lincoln, Connie, and Bobby.

"What the heck happened to you two?" She asked with a chuckle.

Connie's face turned slightly red.

"What do you want, Su-zan?" Bobby asked.

"I was just checking on things," Susan replied.

"Is it time to eat?" Sherry asked.

"It's not dinner, but I guess I could make you some sandwiches," Susan replied.

"Yeah!" Sherry squeaked.

"I can change back now?" Connie asked.

Sherry nodded.

"I'm gonna change too," Bobby said.

"Bobby, how about this, I'll pay you two dollars, if you stay dressed like that," Susan said.

"What? Why?" He asked.

"Come on; it's two easy dollars!"

"Make it three."

"Two fifty."

"Three dollars.

"Two twenty-five."

"Four dollars."

"Fine, three dollars."

"Show me you have the money first."

"I don't have it on me; I'm wearing just a nightshirt."

"Get it then."

Sherry peered over at Lincoln.

"I'm still hungry," she said.

"Here, I'll make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," he said.

"Yes! I love the way you make them," she said.

The two of them went to the kitchen. The smell of cooking turkey was all over the house. Lincoln made Sherry a sandwich; and made himself one too. He made sure Sherry didn't bother any of the pies that were sitting on the counter.

"Hey, Daddy," Sherry said to Calvin.

"Hi Snowflake, I see you are with Lincoln," he said.

"He made me a sandwich," she said with pride.

"That was nice of him," Calvin said.

"Yeah, it was! Lincoln's the best," Sherry said.

"I came to take the turkey out," her father said.

"It's cold out there; make sure he wears a jacket," Sherry replied.

The girl skipped out of the kitchen with her sandwich, leaving Lincoln with her father. Calvin walked over the oven, put on some oven mitts, and grabbed the turkey out of the oven.

"I think I almost got cooked," he said.

Lincoln laughed.

"I hope your Thanksgiving is going well," Calvin asked.

"Yeah, so far so good, Mr. Perason," Lincoln replied.

"Glad to hear it, I'm sorry it's not with your family," Calvin replied.

"Yeah, we just had a Thanksgiving a few months before, I ended up here," Lincoln said.

"I'm sure they are working on a way to get you home," he said to keep the boy's spirits up.

"I hope so," he started to say, "Don't think I'm happy to be around you guys."

"It's alright; it's been nice having you around, you've been like a fourth son to me."

They were interrupted by Susan, Bobby, and Connie coming into the kitchen.

"Uh,maybe a third son," Calvin said.

"Hi, Dad, I'm going to make some sandwiches," Susan said.

"Don't make a mess, uh Susan, what did you do to Bobby?" he asked.

"Sherry did it; she had him playing dress-up," Susan answered.

"Umm-hmm, so how much are you paying him to stay that way?" He asked.

"Three dollars," Susan replied.

"Ms. Big Spender," he said.

"Oh, are the Bills playing the Cardinals yet?" Susan asked.

"I think that game is just about to start," Calvin said.

"Hey Link, I haven't seen you all day," Russel said.

"You should watch this game with us," Ricky said.

"Sure, I guess I can watch," Lincoln replied.

"Who do you got?" Ricky asked.

"Who's playing?" Lincoln asked.

"Buffalo and Saint Louis," Russel said.

"I'm going with Buffalo," Ricky answered.

"Yeah, I guess, I'll go with them," Lincoln said.

"Not, a bad choice, they are alright this year," Russel replied.

"Hey Lincoln, do you know if the Bills ever won a Superbowl?" Ricky asked.

"Uhh, I don't think so," Lincoln answered.

"So, the Superbowl still exists in the future?" Russel questioned.

"Yeah," Lincoln said.

Bobby walked into the living room to see if Lincoln wanted to watch a movie with him.

"I didn't know we had another sister," Russel joked.

"What's with the get-up?" Ricky asked.

"Shut up, I'm getting three free dollars," he said.

Ricky and Russel looked at each other.

"Susan," they said in conjunction.

"So, do you want to see the movie, it's coming on soon?" Bobby asked.

"I'm going to hang down here, for a while," Lincoln replied.

"Ok, I'll watch with Connie," Bobby said.

Katherine exited her room.

"That nap is just what the doctor ordered," she said.

"Hey, Mom, Sherry didn't eat anything," Ricky said.

"Well, that's good, I'm going to take a shower," she replied.

"So, do we have to get dressed up all fancy?" Russel asked.

"You guys are fine as you are, your grandparents aren't here," she answered.

"Far Out! Thanks, Mom!" Russel said.

"Yeah, yeah, well if you need to use the bathroom, use it now before I go in," she replied.

"I'm good, Mom," Ricky said.

"Yeah, me too," Russel said.

"I'm alright, Mrs. Pearson," Lincoln replied.

* * *

Everyone was sitting around the table. Calvin and Katherine were at the opposite ends, Bobby, Sherry, and Connie were on one side, and Lincoln, Russel, Susan, and Ricky were on the other. Oh, and in his cage in a chair with a bunch of phonebooks was Spangles. Katherine was in a Thanksgiving mood to let the mouse be at the table. She might have been happy there was no Sherry mishap.

"Before we eat this food, It's time to say what we are thankful for," Katherine said.

"Everyone, stand up," Calvin said.

"I'll go first," Katherine said, "I'm thankful for our good year, my family, my dear husband, Connie, and Lincoln," she said

"Alright, we are going around the table, so Sherry, it's your turn," Calvin said.

"No, it's Spangles' turn first," Sherry said.

"Oh come on, I'm hungry," Russel said.

Susan hit him in the ribs.

"Spangles says he's thanksful for me, his food, mommy even though she's mean to him sometimes, and his toys," Sherry replied.

Sherry smiled at her mouse.

"Thanks, Spangles, it's my turn now, I'm thanksful for my brothers, my sister, Spangles, Mommy, Daddy, my toys, air, water, lightbulbs, Lincoln, President Ford, cars, trees, fruit, television, hats..." Sherry said.

"Are you going to list everything?" Russel complained.

"Hush, Russel," his mother said.

"It's your turn, Bobby," Sherry said.

"I'm thankful for comic books, my family, that includes Susan, for time travel that brought us Lincoln, for Lincoln, the three dollars Susan is going to pay me, and glasses so I can see," Bobby replied.

"Glasses are supposed to be for smart people, you moron," Susan said.

"Ah, Connie already knows Lincoln is a time traveler, Sus-an," he said.

"Uhh, I guess it's my turn, thanks for having me over, you guys are really groovy, I'm thankful for my family, Ricky's a great friend, and it's been nice meeting Lincoln," Connie said.

The rest of the family went through their thanks, and finally, it came to Lincoln's turn.

"Thank you for letting me be here, you have made me feel not out of place, thank you for that," he said.

"Awww," the others went.

"Alright, let's carve this turkey and eat," Calvin said.

Calvin carved the turkey and handed pieces off on plates to everyone around the table. Each grabbed something they wanted and passed it along to the next.

"Hey! Someone ate half the meatballs, I brought!" Connie exclaimed.

"Sherry, you didn't?" Katherine asked.

"I didn't know they were Thanksgifting food," she said.

"How did she do that? Everyone was watching her like a hawk," Russel asked.

"She's sneakier than we think," Katherine said.

"I'm I trouble?" Sherry asked.

"It's alright, Mrs. Pearson, I'm glad she liked them," Connie said.

Lincoln thought to himself that maybe he was getting used to this family.


	9. Chapter 9

** Been awhile , anyway here is chapter 9 of this story. Hope you like it! **

* * *

Saturday, February 7, 1976

It was a cold and snow-covered Michigan day. Katherine was driving with her youngest daughter, Sherry, riding along. They were going to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. Sherry wanted to tag-a-long because maybe she could convince her mother to get her a treat. The young girl was wearing her older brother's watch, that he let her borrow. They walked from the car to the store, as the snow crunched under their boots.

"Mommy, can we get Spangles, a Valentine?" Sherry asked.

"I'm not buying a card for a mouse," her mother said.

"Not a card, a lady mouse," Sherry replied.

"We're not going to the pet store today," she replied.

"Tomorrow?" Sherry asked.

"No, now get into the cart seat," Katherine replied.

"I don't want to; I'm big enough not to be in that thing," Sherry said.

"Alright, don't complain to me when you get tired," her mother said.

"You mean, you won't care that I'm tired?"

"Nope."

"I want to ride in the seat then."

A woman was standing by the doors; this was a common occurrence that someone would be standing by the doors to get people to pay attention to their cause. This woman was wearing a large coat with a fur hat.

"Excuse me, miss?" The woman said to Katherine.

"Yeah, I'm trying to go into the store to get some stuff, I think the war is over anyway," Katherine said.

"I'm not here about that, I'm here to ask if you are registered to vote," the woman asked.

"Uh, yeah," Katherine replied.

"Good, have you heard about Ronald Reagan?" the woman asked.

"You know you are in Michigan, correct?"

"I'm aware," the woman said.

"You're wasting your time," Katherine said flatly.

She rolled the cart with her daughter into the store.

"Is that because Lincoln said he Jimmy Carter is going to win?" Sherry asked.

"No, Sweetie, President Ford is from Michigan," Katherine said.

Lynn Loud was standing on the sidewalk near the grocery store. She was wearing her shorts and t-shirt, which weren't best for standing in the below 20-degree weather. On her wrist was a white device that looked like a bracelet. It was the other transporter, Lisa had found a signal from the other wrist device, and used the data to track down Lincoln again.

"Where am I? and It's cold!" The teenager yelled.

Sherry looked at the stuff her mother was putting in the cart. There was a bag of baby carrots, celery, and onions in the cart. Sherry looked around at the busy grocery store seeing if there was something that would pique her interest in the slightest.

"Mommy, can we get candy?" she asked.

"We're not here for candy," her mother balked.

"Why not?" Sherry asked.

"We are only here to get things I needed for my stew," her mother replied.

"You can put candy in the stew," Sherry replied.

"Nice, try," her mother replied.

Lynn walked up to the store this time; she was wearing a coat, long pants, and boots. She passed the woman who was trying to convince a man and his wife to vote for her candidate.

"I hope this wasn't a mistake, Lisa," Lynn replied.

She went looking around the store to see if she could find Lincoln. Due to the Louds thinking Bobby Pearson was Lincoln, she was looking for him. "If he still had white hair, it would be easier to find him," she thought. The store was busy as people were doing their Saturday shopping.

"Mom, where are you are you going?" Sherry asked.

"Hold on, Honey, there' a sale on canned chili beans," Katherine replied.

"Do those go in stews," Sherry asked.

"Well, no but, I can make chili next weekend," her mother explained.

"Don't leave me, Mommy," the girl cried out.

"I'll be right back, watch the stuff."

Sherry looked around, and on the side, there were boxes of snack cakes. She saw one she wanted but, it was high up. They were ones in the shapes of Valentine's hearts. She tried to stretch up and get them. The only thought was grunting as she thought they would somehow fall into her arms. As she looked ahead, she saw a girl walking down the aisle.

"Hello," she said.

"Uh, hello," the girl said.

The girl she spotted was Lynn Loud, not that she would know that.

"Are you looking for your Mom?" Sherry asked.

"What?" Lynn asked.

"It looked like you were looking for someone," Sherry said.

"I was looking for my brother; have you seen a little boy run this way?" Lynn asked.

"Could you get those cakes into the cart for me?" Sherry asked.

"Aren't you going to answer my question?" Lynn asked.

"My mom is coming back soon, and I really want those," Sherry replied.

Lynn groaned as she reached up and grabbed the box of snack cakes. Then, she handed them to the six-year-old. Sherry was silent.

"Well?" Lynn asked.

"You're supposed to put them in the cart; that way, Mommy can't just put them back," Sherry replied.

Lynn grabbed the box and put them under another and looked back at Sherry.

"Now, did you see my brother?" Lynn asked.

"I'm sorry, I haven't been paying attention to people, " Sherry explained.

Katherine walked over to see her daughter talking to, in her eyes, some random girl.

"Hey, Mommy," Sherry said.

"I see you have made a friend," Katherine said.

"Mhm, she's looking for her little brother," Sherry replied.

"Oh really, have you tried going to the manager, he could call for him, if he's lost and scared," Katherine suggested.

Lynn's eyes darted around for a second, and she shrugged.

"It's not that he's lost, it's more I'm looking for him so we can leave," she explained.

"Oh, you two are shopping for your parents?" Katherine asked.

"Oh yeah," Lynn replied.

"Mommy, can we get candy now?" Sherry asked.

"No, Sherry," Katherine replied.

Katherine looked over at snack cakes.

"Hmm, these might be good for your lunches," she said.

Lynn had disappeared before the two of them had noticed. They mostly shrugged it off and continued going on, with Sherry asking for candy as they went to the check-in. Lynn continued to look around the store to see if her brother was around. Lisa had instructed her to take notes and pictures of the surroundings of this dimension.

"Excuse me, miss," she heard a voice say.

There was short balding, slightly overweight, balding man standing in front of her. He was wearing a blue apron and had the name Dennis on his name tag.

"Can I ask what you are doing?" he asked.

"I was just looking," she said.

"Well, this isn't a library, there's nothing to browse here," he said.

"Ugh, I was wondering if these came in blue?" she asked.

"Apples?" he asked.

"Apples?" she first asked, noticing she was standing by the fruits, "Yeah, I was wondering if you had blue ones."

Dennis rolled his eyes.

"I don't have time for childish pranks," he said.

"Well, you're rude; I was just looking for some blue apples," she said, "I guess I'll take my business somewhere else."

It was a good cover, after all, as she walked out of the store. Lincoln wasn't in there.

"Why does this dimension look so familiar?" she asked.

Sherry was humming something as her mother put the groceries in the trunk. The cold wind was blowing, causing it to be painful on the skin.

"Alright, I'm going to take you out, you get in the car while I put this cart away," her mother commanded.

"Are we going home?" the young girl asked.

"Yep, I have to start the stew," her mother replied.

While her mother was going to put the cart back, Sherry noticed Lynn walking around again. She was taking pictures with her phone and writing down something in a small notebook. The younger girl didn't stand out too long as she got into the car.

"Mommy, that girl from earlier has the same phone thingy Lincoln has," Sherry said as her mother settled herself into the driver's seat.

"That's nice," Katherine said as she fumbled around the keys.

She started the car and turned on the heat to let the car warm up a little.

"Daddy's car gets hot fast," Sherry replied.

"That's because it's smaller than mine," Katherine replied.

"Why is Daddy's car smaller?" the girl asked.

"He had it before you and Bobby were born, we didn't have five kids then," Katherine explained.

As the car moved through the parking lot, Sherry saw Lynn again and waved. Lynn looked and noticed Sherry was wearing something on her wrist. Something she had missed before and made it all clear now.


	10. Chapter 10

**Long Chapter. enjoy! **

* * *

Dreamstate

Lincoln walked up to his house at 1216 Franklin Ave; he finally made it back home. There was the house, a little rundown, stuff in the yard, and something on the roof. He smiled, and tears ran down his face. He ran up to the door and opened it. His family was watching TV.

"Guys, I'm home!" he yelled.

Silence.

It confused him, maybe they were invested in the show and didn't hear him. He ran in front of the television.

"Guys, I'm home!" he repeated.

"We heard you, why are you back now?" Lori asked.

Lincoln was taken aback by that question.

"What do you mean? I didn't leave on purpose," Lincoln asked.

"Oh, really, where'd you go?" Luna asked.

"I went back in time somehow and..." Lincoln started to say.

"Back in time? That's highly improbable," Lisa replied.

"It's true!" Lincoln cried.

"Just go away, Stincoln, there's nothing here for you now," Lynn replied.

"But, But, But," Lincoln said.

Thursday, February 19, 1976

Lincoln woke up he was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. The clock on the table next to the bed read 3:34. He was hot. So, he pulled off the covers and got off the bed. Then, he pulled back the top sheet and got under that instead.

"It was just a dream, Lincoln," he said.

He thought things were settled and went back to sleep. Another nightmare came; this one had him seeing his family selling his stuff after figuring he was long gone. He couldn't talk to them, and they didn't see or hear him. Again, the boy woke up in a sweat. He saw it was 4:03. He wiped tears from his face and still felt hot. Carefully, he got out of the bed and went to the bathroom to clean up.

"Lincoln," he heard a voice call.

He woke up and felt some weight on top of him, looking straight at him was Sherry, who was on top of him, her knees on his legs, and her hands on his chest.

"Sherry, could you get off me, it kind of hurts," he strained.

"Oh, sorry," she said.

The girl hopped off the bed. Lincoln caught his breath and looked at the clock.

"Mommy wanted me to get you up, you must have been deep sleeping," she said.

"Ugh, yeah," he replied.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just trying to wake up," he replied.

"Ok, breakfast is waiting," she said.

At lunchtime, Lincoln had a hard time trying to stay focused and awake. He thought about going with Ricky and Susan home, but would see him struggling to stay awake and think something was wrong. He didn't want to explain something he knew she couldn't fix.

"Lincoln, are you alright?" Connie asked.

"Huh? Yeah," Lincoln replied.

"I'm only asking because you have your elbow in your pudding," Connie replied.

The white-haired boy looked down and saw the chocolate pudding covering his elbow, good thing he wore a short-sleeved shirt.

"Here you go," Connie said as he gave Lincoln some napkins.

"Thanks," Lincoln replied.

"You seem a little tired."

"I guess I can tell you since you know."

"Woah, is this some future problem?"

"Well, not really, I've just been having some nightmares for the past couple days."

"Like what?"

"Well, I keep dreaming my family doesn't want me around, any more or I can see them, but I'm a ghost or something, like that."

"You don't think they really feel like that, do you?"

"No, I guess not, I mean, I think so, I hope they will be happy to be happy to see me again if I make it back."

"I'm sure they'll be glad to see you."

Connie took a spoonful of his pudding into his mouth and thought about something for a moment.

"I don't do this really, but you should talk to my Mom," Connie replied.

"Huh?" Lincoln asked.

"Well, my Mom, might, be someone who can help you with your dreams; it's sort of her thing," Connie replied.

"I wouldn't want to bother her," Lincoln said.

" It wouldn't be a pain; she likes when I have friends over," Connie said.

"Maybe, I won't have a nightmare tonight," Lincoln said.

"I can talk to her, for you, then you can see her tomorrow, afterschool," Connie replied.

Lincoln was quiet for a moment.

"This is the first time you've invited me to your house," he then said.

Connie moved his eyes around and rubbed his elbow.

"I know, I get nervous inviting people to my house, my parents aren't like other people," he explained.

"It was hard, sometimes, to invite people over to my house because of my ten sisters so, I understand," Lincoln said.

That night, he got into the bed and laid there. The hardest part was trying to go to sleep and not worry about the nightmares. His thoughts ran through his mind; there was some reason they were appearing. Finally, his body had succumbed to tiredness.

Dreamscape

Lincoln found himself at his house, but there was something off: a for sale sign in the front.

"That's strange," he thought.

So, he went next door to ask Mr. Grouse, their grouchy neighbor, if he knew where his family went. He walked to the door and rung the doorbell.

"Loud, what are you doing here?" The man asked.

" , why my house for sale, and where's my family?" he asked.

"Oh, I remember now, everyone thought you were dead," replied.

"Dead? Then, how come you aren't surprised to see me?" Lincoln asked.

"Why are you asking me that?" Mr. Grouse answered, annoyed.

"Could you tell me what happened?"

"Are you going to interrupt?"

"No, Sir."

"Good, now that family of yours reported you, missing, and we all went looking for you. Days turned into weeks; weeks turned into months; months turned into years; years turned into decades."

Lincoln's eyes widened, how long had he been gone?

"Sorry about that, I mean you were gone for about a year," he continued; "Then the police suspected your family of foul play, and it went all downhill from there."

It was quiet for a moment until Mr. Grouse spoke again.

"Are you going to say anything, kid, or just stand there."

"I thought you were going to say more. So, where's my family?"

"They were cleared of any wrongdoing, but they couldn't handle the town giving them the side-eye, and they moved."

"Do you know where?"

"No, I haven't talked to them in months."

"Oh."

"Between you and me, I thought that weird sister with the bad sense of humor might have done a prank that went wrong, and they covered up your death."

Lincoln woke up. His surroundings were walls of the attic, again. He was sweating and breathing nervously.

"Dang it, that felt so real," he said.

Friday, February 20, 1976

"Linc, are you alright?" Russel asked.

The family was sitting around the dining room table, having breakfast.

"What?" Lincoln asked.

"You are pouring orange juice into your Cream of Wheat," Russel replied.

"And you look like a truck ran you over and left you for dead," Susan replied.

"Are you coming down with something?" Mrs. Perason asked.

"No, I'm just a little tired, I think didn't get enough sleep," he replied.

"Is that attic too cold or too warm?" Mr. Perason asked.

"Nah, it's fine, I was studying a little too late," Lincoln lied.

"Aww, you shouldn't stress yourself that much; it's not healthy," Mrs. Pearson replied.

"Yeah, you could die of no sleep, then you'd die before you were born," Bobby replied.

Lincoln laughed weakly.

"Can, I leave a little early, maybe the cold weather will wake me up a little, with a walk?" he asked.

"Sure, you can," Mr. Perason said.

While the snow seemed to be mostly washed away by the rain, the fog was making its presence. The boy walked on the sidewalk, looking at his surroundings. It was peaceful, really, the day wasn't bitterly cold, and one could feel the slight dampness of the air on their face.

Calvin Pearson put on his coat and checked his watch. His wife made sure all the kids were ready for the school day. There was a weird silence to the family after Lincoln had left.

"I wonder if he's alright," Katherine said.

"He's been a little off for the past few days," Susan replied.

"Doesn't seem sick, though," Katherine replied.

"Maybe he's homesick," Calvin said.

"You think? I thought he was getting used to being here," Katherine questioned.

"Well, maybe I'm not using the right words; he might be thinking he might never get back home, it's been a good few months," Calvin explained.

"When did you get all insightful?" Katherine asked her husband.

He smirked.

"We should do something for him," Russel said.

"Like what?" Susan asked.

"Build a time machine!" Sherry yelled.

Everyone looked at the little girl like she was mad.

"I have an idea," Katherine said.

Lincoln found Connie at school. The boy was reading a book and sitting on a bench.

"Connie, do you think your Mom can really help me?" Lincoln asked.

"You had more bad nightmares?" Connie asked.

"Yeah."

"She might be able to, at least, gives you someone to talk to, if you don't want to tell the Pearsons."

"Is this afternoon, alright?"

"Sure, we can walk together."

"Thanks."

Lincoln went inside, he felt he could get a little nap in at his desk before class started. Meanwhile, Connie continued with reading his book until Ricky, Susan, Bobby, and Sherry showed up at his spot.

"Hey guys," he said.

"Connie, have you seen Lincoln?" Ricky asked.

"Oh yeah, he went inside, are you looking for him?" Connie questioned.

"We are doing something bangin' for Lincoln, but don't want him to find out before we are done, could you distract this afternoon?" Susan asked.

"This afternoon, huh?" Connie asked, "Sure, I think I can."

"Well, that was easy, bring him home around 5:30, and if it's ok with your folks, you can sleepover," Ricky said.

"Cool," Connie replied.

"Aren't you gonna ask what we are doing?" Sherry asked.

She looked very eager to explain.

"Nah, I kind of want to be surprised, myself," Connie said.

"Connie?" Susan asked.

"Yes?"

"Sometimes, you are really strange."

After school, Lincoln and Connie walked to Connie's house. It was a normal-looking house, but Lincoln did notice that it had two front doors.

"On the right, my grandpa and grandma live; I live there also; on the left, my mom, dad, and I live there, as well," Connie explained.

"Oh, so it's like two houses?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah, they call it a duplex, my grandfather bought both halves many years ago, they used to rent out the left one," Connie replied.

Lincoln followed Connie into the right side. The interior of the house let to the living room, that looked like a standard living room.

"Oh, take off your shoes," Connie replied.

"Alright," Lincoln replied.

"My grandma is at work."

"Oh, I'm surprised she works."

"It's part-time, she's saving up for a vacation with grandpa, to go to the United Kingdom."

"That's cool."

"Grandpa is at work too; they are probably going out with friends tonight."

Connie took off his coat, placed it on the couch, and ran back to the front door.

"Come on, Lincoln," he said.

"Do I have to put my shoes back on?

"Nah, we are just going next door, and my Mom wouldn't want shoes on anyway."

The two boys walked to the left side, Connie opened the front door, and Lincoln follow him inside. The house had a different feel to it. There were rows of potted house plants to line the wall. The wallpaper was purple with white dots.

"Mom, I'm home, and brought Lincoln," Connie called.

A woman walked out from a room, she was tall and had the same blond shade of hair as Connie. It went down her back, she had a bright lime-colored head-band on the top of her head. She was wearing black with white pine striped pants with flares at the bottom of the legs. A standard long-sleeved-shirt in a distinct pink and orange completed her outfit with a black vest, and on her ears, she had earings that were brightly colored pieces of plastic.

"Big boys don't cry," a voice on the radio said.

The first thing she did was hug her son and kissed him on the forehead.

"I missed you, dear," she said.

"Me too, Mom," Connie said.

The woman turned her attention to the white-haired boy.

"Well, hello, you can take off your coat," she said.

She had a warmth to her voice, it sounded like she had an accent, just not a traceable one. Lincoln removed his coat and looked for a spot to hang it. Connie pointed at the coat rack.

"Nice to meet you, Lincoln, I love your hair color," she said.

"Uh, thanks," he replied.

He put out his hand to shake it, but she was a hugger.

"Oh, Mom, I can sleepover at the Pearsons tonight, right?" Connie asked.

"Of course, though, you Dad and I will miss you, It's fun to be with friends," she replied.

"Thanks," he said.

"So, Lincoln, Connie has told me you've been having some nightmares?" she asked.

"Yeah, he said you could maybe help me?" Lincoln asked.

"I love such an endorsement, do you mind rapping with me in the other room?" she asked.

"I guess not," Lincoln said.

"Don't worry, Lincoln," Connie replied.

"Follow me," she said.

"Mom, I'm going next door to finish up some things," Connie replied.

The room Lincoln and Connie's mother went to, was decorated in multiple colors, nothing matched. There was the radio that was playing music, a table that had nothing on it, a bookshelf with some books and trinkets. There was also a lava lamp with blue "lava" sitting on a shelf. Connie's mother took out incense and lit it with a lighter, letting it catch, and blew it out, letting smoke spread the scent through the room.

"You can sit with your legs crossed?" she asked.

Lincoln nodded and crossed his legs on the floor, the woman sat across from him. Something else, Lincoln noticed was that she seemed young, at least looked younger than his mother or Mrs. Pearson.

"I will understand if you are nervous, our souls have never met before, and that does cause worry, but I'm here to listen," she said.

Lincoln, not knowing how to respond, just smiled and nodded.

"How about you tell me about your dreams," she said, breaking the ice.

"Well, I started having these nightmares a few days ago, they seem to be close to the same thing," he said.

"You know when you sleep, your mind is at it's most free to express itself. It's the soul at its freest state, while on Earth," she replied, "Tell me about one of them."

"Well, there's one where I go back home, and my family doesn't want to see me anymore," Lincoln said.

"Hmm, that's right, Connie told me you are the Pearson's cousin, your parents are working abroad," she replied.

"Uh yeah," he said, going with the cover story.

"So, in this dream, what happens?"

"Well, I walk into my house, and I see my family. My parents and sisters don't seem happy to see me, they're mad I've been gone so long, even though, it was out of my control."

"Sisters?"

He realized his mistake and quickly remembered his cover story about them.

"There are these girls that live in my neighborhood, we're close they're like sisters to me," he said, hoping she'd take it as fact.

"Ah, that is sweet, and with you being here, you don't get to see them."

Lincoln nodded.

"Give me another dream," she commanded.

"Well, there's one where they all move away and think I died."

Lincoln told her about the other nightmares he had. He did make sure he kept it to the cover story, to not give away his real reason for being in the year 1976.

"How long have you been staying?" Connie's mother asked.

"A few months," Lincoln answered.

"Do you know when you are going back to your parents?" She asked.

"No, I don't," he answered.

"Are you OK with your family, here?" she asked.

"Yes, they've been really nice; they treat me like a member of the family, I mean..."

"I got a common theme from the dreams, you are worried about not returning, that's why two of the dreams mention death. We think of death as the end, the final point," she explained.

"I mean, it is hard to return home," Lincoln chirped.

"The dreams are trying to reassure you; that your family still loves you; as much you still love them."

Lincoln titled his head, he couldn't believe that a dream where his family throws him out of the house means they still love him.

"Your mind is telling you not to doubt they love you, by giving you, worst-case scenarios, to realize that."

"I think that makes sense."

She walked to a drawer and grabbed something out from it, folding her hand around it. Then, she grabbed another object from the same drawer and closed the drawer. Sitting back down next to Lincoln, she set the one object down on the side where Lincoln wasn't and looked at the boy. She uncurled her hand.

"Alright, cup your hand and reach out," she said.

Lincoln was confused but followed the hippy's instruction. In her hand, she had a little bag filled with sand, she poured some into Lincoln's right hand.

"Clench your fist and think of all the negative things and energy," she replied.

Lincoln clenched his fist with the sand and exerted his energy into squeezing the sand.

"All negative thoughts transfer it to the sand if you are religious, you can say a prayer," she said, "When you are done, cast the sand behind you."

"In the house?" he questioned.

"It's alright," she replied.

Lincoln threw the sand behind him. Then she handed him the other object, a small dream catcher.

"Hang this in your room, and it should purify your dreams," she said.

"Thanks," he replied.

"I believe in helping others out; you are welcome," she replied, "Mind staying there a second, I have something I need to do first."

"Ok," Lincoln replied.

A few minutes later, she came back with a thermos in her hand.

"This is Connie's tea; could you bring it to him?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure, am I done here?" he asked.

"Unless there's something else you have anything else to talk about," she replied.

"Not really," Lincoln answered.

"I'm going to ask for Connie, you are welcome to spend nights here with him," she replied.

"Thanks, and thanks for your help," he said.

She nodded and gave him the dream catcher.

Next door, Connie was vacuuming the floor. He wasn't aware Lincoln had come in and jumped a little.

"Hey Lincoln, how it go?" he asked.

"I think it went well, what were you doing?" Lincoln asked.

"I do some things around my grandparents' house for chores," Connie explained.

"Oh, your mom told me to give this to you," Lincoln replied.

"Hey it's tea, do you want some?" Connie asked.

Later, Lincoln and Connie walked back to the Pearson home. Lincoln opened the door and saw the Pearsons waiting around the in the living room, talking to each other. When Sherry spotted Lincoln, they panicked and yelled a hasty surprise.

"What?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh, we did forget something, we wanted to give you a fun evening," Calvin said.

"Yeah, we were kind of worried about you and wanted to help you," Catherine said.

"Help me?" Lincoln questioned.

"Mmm-hmm, you seemed kind of off this week and thought you might be a little homesick, so we put a little family night for you," Susan said.

"We couldn't build a time machine," Sherry replied.

"Aww, thanks guys, I'm sorry I worried you," Lincoln replied.

After, an eventful evening, Lincoln hung up the dream catcher and went to bed. For the first time in a week, he didn't have one of those nightmares.


	11. Chapter 11

I wrote a few chapters around the same time, and this was going to be part of the last, but I like splitting the past segments and current day segments to keep it cleaner. Anyway enjoy! Thanks for reading

* * *

Present Day Present Time

Lynn was passed out on Lisa's bed, her body sprawled out. Instead of chasing the car that she assumed was holding her brother, she hit the return button and fell to the ground from the intensity of the stress. Lisa did a medical check to see if Lynn had experienced anything of concern during the trip. Seeing that she was mostly alright and just exhausted from the transference of cells, Lisa took the phone to check the photos.

The pictures were of the grocery store and the surroundings, and the last picture was a blurry picture of a girl in a car waving.

"I think the tracing might have been off; it seems she went to a grocery store, somewhere," Lisa replied.

She took the wrist device off Lynn's body and plugged it into her computer. There were ways to check the data from the device to see where it been. The numbering code it sent matched the one of Lincoln's device that Lisa had pinged.

"Lincoln must be in a space that matches our own; it does add up as our last alleged appearance of him was still human," she said.

There were a few pictures of the girl; all of them seemed to be hastily taken. There was also a video that must have been recorded by accident, as it was dark, as being in Lynn's pocket.

"Could you get those into the cart for me?"

"Aren't you going to answer my question?"

"My mom is coming back soon, and I really want those."

There were some rustling sounds and the sound of something being put into a shopping cart.

"Well?"

"You're supposed to put them in the cart; that way, Mommy can't just put them back."

More rustling sounds were heard.

"Now, did you see my brother?"

"I'm sorry; I haven't been paying attention to people."

In the background, someone was walking towards the two voices.

"Hey, Mommy."

"I see you made a friend."

"Mhm, she's looking for her little brother."

Lisa continued to hear the exchange until the point Lynn checked her phone. The genius glanced over at her sister and hoped she would wake up soon. Then she took the phone and uploaded the pictures to her computer. Using photo editing software, she was able to enhance the blurry photos of Sherry.

"That young child is wearing the watch," Lisa replied.

Lisa didn't show emotion in her face, but she was stunned.

"I need to find this girl and figure out what connection she has to Lincoln," she replied.

Lynn opened her eyes; she moved her tongue around in her mouth to moisten the dryness. Next, she slowly got up and got her barrings straight, noticing she's back home and in Lisa's room.

"Lisa," she croaked.

"Good, you have awakened," Lisa said.

The short genius got up from her chair and walked over to her sister with a bottle of water.

"Drink this," Lisa commanded.

"What is it?" Lynn asked.

"It's water, you know, the substance that humans need to live," Lisa replied.

Lynn rolled her eyes and took a swig of the water.

"Hey, that's Lincoln!" Lynn remarked, seeing Sherry on the computer screen.

Lisa turned her head to see.

"Where?" she questioned.

"Right there, on the screen," Lynn replied.

"That girl?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, she's wearing the thing; he must have changed again."

"That transportation must have scrambled your thoughts; anyway, you might not be too far off, that girl might have something to do with Lincoln," Lisa said.

"Why don't you think that's him directly?" Lynn asked.

"I'm not even sure he changed last time," Lisa remarked.

"Why does my head feel weird?" Lynn asked.

"The teleportation scrambles your very atomic core and then has to rebuild it, and your body is adjusting to that as much as it can," Lisa explained.

Once Lynn had come to it, Lisa decided to question her about the other dimension.

"You know, it was cold like it gets here," Lynn explained.

"That's why you came back that first time, I'm aware," Lisa replied.

"I didn't get to go far, but the place seemed to be a normal grocery store, the people seemed like normal people, their clothes were kind of different," Lynn replied.

"Yes, I did notice the clothing looked slightly old-fashioned," Lisa replied.

She flipped through some of the pictures to show Lynn.

"So, this girl, what did you do for her?" Lisa's questioning continued.

"What do you mean?"

"You recorded something while in your pocket, and you were talking with that girl."

"Let me try and remember."

"I can play the audio; if you'd like?"

"Yeah."

After listening to the exchange for a minute, it clicked in Lynn's mind.

"That's right, she wanted these snack cakes, and asked me to put them in the cart before her mom came back," Lynn replied.

"If she has a mother and didn't know who you were, that would mean she wasn't Lincoln," Lisa explained.

"Unless he forgot or something happened to reset his entire memory," Lynn replied.

"You've been watching too many science fiction films," Lisa said.

"Me? I think you got the wrong person," Lynn said with a laugh.

Lisa kept her straight face, but there was something Lynn could read in her eyes.

"If that ever happened, you must understand, our mission to retrieve Lincoln would be a lost cause," Lisa said in a serious tone.

"What do you mean?" Lynn asked.

"You know exactly what I mean."

"So, when do I get to go back and find her?"

"Hold on, it's a risk to send someone like this, I need to figure out some other things before I even dare send you or anyone," Lisa answered, "And Lincoln could hop dimensions again if he hasn't already."

"What do we need to do?"

"I need to have proper communication channels, that way when someone is sent, we can have a conversation with them, and I need to boost my surveillance and tracking abilities."

"Couldn't we try getting Lincoln by his watch again?"

"That's a hard proposition, considering how unstable the watch has been."

"All we have to do is get Lincoln then grab the watch off him before it does something."

"Even that is a risk."

Lisa wanted to make a way for an inter-dimensional communication system that would allow someone to talk to someone else in a different dimension. That was going to take some time and resources. She was still curious as to how Sherry had the watch on her wrist if that was the one.

"Come on Lisa, just send me back, I'm sure I can find that girl or Lincoln," Lynn pleaded.

"Normally, I would be ecstatic that someone is willing to be a test subject, but in the case of already losing one sibling, I can't lose two," Lisa replied.

"It's not your fault, it just kind of happened right?" Lynn asked.

"It's still my creation that caused this," Lisa replied.

Lynn could tell her sister was distraught, even though Lisa didn't openly show it as others would.

"Hey you already sent me, you could send me again, I trust you," she said.

"Even if I wanted to, Lincoln's device isn't sending a signal right now," Lisa replied.

"Wouldn't it work if used the same location as before?" Lynn asked.

"Those coordinates could send you back to the same location or they could send you to a void in space," Lisa replied.

"That sounds bad," Lynn replied.

"It would be."

"What do we have to do now?"

"I have to make up some plans now."

Lynn walked out of Lisa's room to go outside and take some practice shots. In the back of her mind, she hoped that Lincoln would be found and he wanted to come back. She tried to shake these thoughts. "Of course, he wants to come back, why wouldn't he want to be with his family and friends?" They were recent but something she wondered about.


	12. Chapter 12

Back again, another slice of life chapter with Lincoln in 1976 and the Pearson Family. Being there for a few months (time is retaliate) is making a slight conflict of thought in the background. Enjoy!

* * *

Tuesday, March 2nd, 1976

Lincoln walked back home, he took off his coat, and rain boots and walked up to his attic bedroom. The house was empty; Katherine and her son Russel were out; Ricky was spending time with a kid who had gotten a new video game system. Lincoln wasn't as interested, in a surprise twist, but he had seen better more impressive games. Bobby was out "treasure hunting", and Sherry was with her friends. He decided to go downstairs to get a snack. Susan was in the kitchen; she was wearing just a green oversized long-sleeved shirt with a number 7 on the front in white.

"Oh hey, I didn't hear you come in," she said.

"I didn't know, you were here," he replied.

"I do have to give this up soon," she said.

"Give what up?" Lincoln asked.

"My afternoon naps, softball is coming back soon and I'm gonna have to go practice in the afternoon," she explained.

"No more late-night reading and stuff?" Lincoln asked.

"You want a pb&j sandwich?" she asked.

"Do you have any sauerkraut?" Lincoln asked.

"You are really going to do that?" Susan moaned.

"Come on, you should try it."

Lincoln walked to the fridge where the jar of sauerkraut was kept. He had shown other the Pearsons his weird creation. The reactions ranged from, slight gagging to a very willing Sherry.

"Alright, Lincoln, I'll make a deal: you give me the sandwich and you help me with me practice softball," she said.

The white-haired boy thought for a moment; Susan's deals were always interesting. She would either make deals with her sibling or bets. It was kind of how Susan managed living with her large family. He agreed.

At the table, Lincoln and Susan sat down in chairs. Susan had two plates and a cola in front of her. One plate had her normal peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and the Lincoln creation on the other. Lincoln had his creation and a cola in front of him. Susan took a bite of her sandwich as to tune her mouth to get ready. Taking a bite of the sauerkraut and peanut butter sandwich was an experience. The smell doesn't work at all it mostly induces a gagging sensation in the throat, Peanut Butter's scent isn't overpowered by the sauerkraut, it merges. Sauerkraut is acidic and has a sharp flavor. She breathed in, opened her mouth, and stuck the sandwich in and bit down tearing the rest from her mouth. Chewing was easy, the taste was awful, but chewing wasn't the worst part. She forced it down and hoped it would not come back up. She took a drink of her cola and gasped with tears. Looking over at Lincoln, she saw he was almost done.

"You might to hurry up, the bread gets soggy quickly," he replied.

Susan took this as a challenge. After about 4 minutes repeating the strained process of chewing the sandwich and drinking the cola. Tears were running down her face, but she finished. It was a victory.

"That was disgusting to the max," she replied.

"I wasn't expecting you to eat that, I've never convinced my sisters to do that, even Lynn refused me trying to make it a competition," Lincoln said.

"You better keep up your end of the bargain."

Lincoln nodded.

"I hope my stomach doesn't hurt when I'm taking my nap," she replied.

Susan drank her cola.

"So, your sisters never ate one before?" She asked.

"No, not even Lana who has eaten gross stuff from the trash," Lincoln replied.

"I'm going to miss you," Susan replied flatly.

"Oh yeah, you are about to take your nap?"

"No, I mean when you go back to your own time."

Lincoln was quiet for a moment. He wanted to get back home to his time, he had to do such a thing, correct?

"Don't worry, I'm just saying that because there's the change you could still randomly go back," she said.

"It's been kind of alright being here with everyone; maybe you could find me in the future, you know the address," he said.

"That'd be kind of weird, I'll be like an old woman," she said.

"I'm sure you won't look old," Lincoln replied.

"I think I would like to meet your family, though, they seem like nice people; from what you told me that is," she replied.

"Yeah, they are, it would be nice if you could some how meet them," Lincoln replied.

"I'm tired, going to take my nap," she replied.

With the house so quiet, Lincoln kind of just walked around the house with thoughts in his head. He somewhat didn't consider too much that fact that he would be missed here in this time as much as misses being with his family. They didn't have to open their home to him and believe his story, but they did and adopted him. Time is weird. He still didn't know how much time had gone where his family had noticed him being gone, he could go right back to the minute where he disappeared, and his family would be non the wiser, and he could have years of his life lived before he was born.

He went into Sherry's room where Spangles was running in his little wheel. He starred for awhile as the mouse was having a fun time. Everything is more urgent and important to a mouse. Sherry had said that mice must do their lives in a faster way because they live shorter than humans.

"Hey, Spangles, looks like you are having fun," he said.

Spangles turned his attention to Lincoln and twitched his nose at him.

"Maybe you understand me, my pets, back at home, seemed to understand me," he said.

Spangles got closer to the bars of the cage and Lincoln put out his finger to let him sniff it. Lincoln noticed on the wall behind Spangles' cage, some new drawings. There were four of them. One was a picture of a mouse with the word "Spangles" on the top written in different colors. Another was of little mice shapes, third was a girl, probably Sherry, holding a mouse, probably Spangles, and little hears coming from the girl's face. A final drawing seemed to be faces in a circle with a mouse in the middle and hearts by each face and the mouse. The top had the words "Spangles Family" in large letters. The first face was captioned with the words "Spangles human Mommy", followed by other members of the Pearson family. The one face that really grabbed his attention was one drawn with the hair uncolored and teeth sticking out. "Spangles Lincoln".

"Apparently, I'm your Lincoln, Spangles" he said.

Lincoln had a little smile on his face. In the back of his mind, the idea of leaving of feeling harder than it would have been back in October. He said goodbye to Spangles and walked downstairs, there was winter fog covering everything, making it hard to see far. The best thing to do would be to just relax and turn on the TV, while everyone was out.

Russel, Sherry, and their mother were the first back. The three of them were holding bags.

"Hey Lincoln, look what I got!" Sherry said excitedly.

She ran over to the couch to show Lincoln a record she had gotten.

"It's Kojak!" she yelled.

"Yeah she saw the guy that plays Kojak's face on that record at the store and really wanted it," Russel replied.

"It was cheap, practically giving it away," Katherine replied.

"She's going to play it so much," Russel moaned.

"What do you think, Lincoln?" Sherry asked.

"Uh, yeah it's cool," Lincoln said.

"You listen to it with me," Sherry replied.

"Eh, later, young lady, get your homework done, first," Katherine said.

"Yes, Mommy, I'm gonna show Spangles," Sherry said with excitement.

The young girl ran, with her record, upstairs.

"I don't know why that girl likes Telly Savalas, so much," Katherine replied.

"Maybe she likes bald men, Mom" Russel joked.

"Ugh, I'm going to get dinner started."

Russel walked over to Lincoln and held up what he had gotten at the record store.

"Check it out, Linc, the newest Smooch album," he said.

"Cool, I think I've seen that one before," Lincoln replied.

"Well of course you have, does that mean you don't want to listen to it with me?" Russel asked.

"Sure," Lincoln replied.

"Not right now, don't you have a history test to study for?" Katherine asked.

"Fine, Check ya later, Lincoln," Russel replied.

"I'm just excited for the time when I'll be hearing Telly Savalas and Smooch blasting through the house," Katherine lamented.

Lincoln kind of nodded and returned to watching what was on TV.

"You finished your homework, Lincoln?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah, had free time to work on it at school," Lincoln responded.

"Good, Susan's napping?"

"Yeah."

Ricky came home, about 20 minutes later. He saw Lincoln watching TV on the couch.

"Lincoln, there you are, you missed a bangin' time," he said.

"Maybe I should have gone, playing some video games would be better than nothing," Lincoln replied.

Ricky rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I didn't get to play, actually, there were so many guys there that it was hard to get a turn with Gary," Ricky explained.

"Rick, pickup your coat," his mother said from the kitchen.

"It must be an instinct for her," he whispered.

Lincoln laughed.

"Mom, we should get a video game system!" Ricky yelled.

"If, we mean you making money for it, then yeah," his mother yelled.

"How about for my birthday?"

"Will you be able to pick up your coat by then?"

Ricky sighed and picked up coat from the floor. Lincoln watched him the whole time.

"When is your birthday, anyway?" Lincoln asked.

"September 22nd," Ricky replied.

"Oh, I appeared only a couple weeks after your birthday," Lincoln replied.

"I guess you did, of course I share it with Susan; that's also why we are in the fifth grade, we missed the cut off to start school. If you are wondering about the others, this month is Bobby's Birthday on the 13th, Sherry's in May, and Russel is in June. My Dad's in August and Mom in September."

"Bobby's birthday is coming up?" Lincoln asked.

"Yep, don't worry, we are going to do something for him," Ricky said, "I'm going to go put my coat in my room."

The smell of fish spread through the house, as Mrs. Pearson was baking some. It was getting closer to the start of spring so, 4:30 in the afternoon was still light compared to even a month a before. Bobby was the last of the kids still out of the house. Susan had gotten up from her nap. She sat next to Lincoln on the couch.

"Come on Lincoln, I want to see the 4:30 movie," she said.

"What's the movie?" Lincoln asked.

"How should I know, I just like being surprised at watching what they put on," she replied.

"I was here first," Lincoln said.

"There's a TV in Ricky's room," Susan shot back.

"Then you watch it."

"You've really become part of this family; hmm I'm not going to fight you."

"Is this a trick?"

Susan smiled and laughed.

"Nah, I have to chill, I don't want to screw up your practicing with me, and I need to save my energy for Bobby," she replied.

The door opened and Bobby came inside, he was covered in mud and debris, he also had bags in his hands. He hadn't moved from the door area, instead he took the bags and placed them on the ground. First, he sat down on the floor and took off his boots and socks, then stood back up and took off his coat, next his overalls and shirt and sat the clothes on the floor. It was like he was being tactical. His mother walked into the room and before she said anything, she looked at her son.

"You are covered in…" she started to say.

"I know, I'm about to take my bath, my messy clothes are right here, and not dripping all over the place," he said.

"Oh, well uh, what's with the bags?" she asked.

"They're treasures," he said.

"I…you aren't brining a bunch of trash into the house," she replied.

"Don't worry, everything in these bags are groovy," he replied.

She sighed, it was like Bobby had figured out anything she as going to say and stopped her. He walked over to Lincoln.

"Hey Lincoln, do you want to read comics with me later?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," Lincoln replied.

He grabbed his bags and walked upstairs and took a bath.

Katherine grabbed his clothes from the floor, she noticed the coat was somewhat clean, it only needed to be wiped off, she took the clothes and walked with them to the basement. When, she came back she saw her daughter standing there in the kitchen.

"What was that?" Susan asked.

"What was what?" She asked.

"Bobby?"

"You know what's coming up, right?"

"So, you saw too?"

"I know when all you kids start acting differently around birthdays or holidays, or when you want something," Katherine replied with a smirk.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Mother," Susan said.

"You'll use your kids tricks against them when you have them," Katherine replied.

"I'm not having kids," Susan said.

"That's what I once said too," Katherine replied.

Calvin came home. He took off his coat and boots and saw Lincoln sitting on the couch.

"Hey Lincoln," he said.

"Hi Mr. Pearson, how was your day?" Lincoln asked.

"Long as can be," he replied.

Katherine came out of the kitchen with Susan and kissed her husband. Susan hugged her father.

After dinner, Lincoln spent some time with Sherry and Spangles and played Mouse, not harm, Trap. Sherry liked the game for the obvious reasons but figured out the game was about trapping mice and not about mice trapping things. So, they had to convince her the mice won't be harmed to play. Sherry had a little blue record player and let the sound of Telly Savalas play during the game.

"Alright Spangles, your turn, roll the dice, Squeak," Sherry said.

Lincoln waited for a mouse to roll dice; it was a good long time until Sherry "helped" her buddy roll the mouse. Then she "helped" him with the piece.

"Good work, Spangles, squeak," she would say.

He wondered how his sisters would take playing a game like this. Lynn would be annoyed if she were losing to a mouse like he was.

"Russel, do you want to play?" Sherry asked.

Her older brother had come into the room and was standing behind Lincoln starring at Sherry.

"No, I came to tell you to turn that noise down, I want to hear my record," Russel replied.

"It's not noise, squeak, it's music," she replied.

"Turn down that music then," Russel said.

"I want listen to Kojak sing, squeak," she replied.

"I said turn it down, not off," Russel said.

Lincoln turned his head seeing Russel standing behind him.

"Let me guess, you are losing to Spangles?" Russel asked.

Lincoln nodded.

"That's why I don't play, she cheats," Russel replied.

"I don't cheat, Spangles is a great player, squeak," she replied.

Russel was quiet, pacing out any thoughts before replying in the wrong way.

"Do you mind if Lincoln comes with me now?" he asked.

"Awww, but I want to play again, squeak," she replied.

"We can play again, another time, isn't the Brady Bunch on now?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh yeah, I wanna see that squeak," Sherry said.

Quickly, she turned off the Telly record, put Spangles in her hands and ran downstairs. Lincoln got up and walked out with Russell following him.

"You've really gotten the hang of this house, Lincoln," Russel replied.

"So, you wanted me to listen to your record with you?" Lincoln asked.

"I was kind of bailing you out, Dude, I'm sure you heard it multiple times by now," he said.

"Nothing beats a classic, that's what Luna says," Lincoln replied.

"You can chill with me for a while, if you want," Russel said, "I would love to meet that sister of yours."

"I think I'd like that too," Lincoln replied.

Lincoln finished his time with Russel, saying he remembered that he promised read comic books with Bobby before the younger boy's bedtime. Russel nodded and continued to listen to the music.

Later, Susan walked into Bobby's room to find Lincoln still reading a comic, while lying on the floor, Bobby had passed on his bed, a comic book laying on his face.

"It's funny how you both just like to lie around in your underwear like that," she said.

"Well, I mean it is comfortable," Lincoln replied.

"Hey, I'm not bugged by it, just like to laugh at something; anyway, I was sent by Mom to tell him it's bedtime," she replied.

"Looks like he's a head of you," Lincoln said.

"Yeah, he must have had a fun day," Susan replied.

The older sister took the comic book off her brother's face and carefully closed it. Next, she put it on top his nightstand, then grabbed his glasses from his face and set them on top. Lincoln got up and closed his comic book.

"Need any help?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm cool, I'm done," she replied.

After they both left Bobby's room Susan turned to Lincoln and told him, "Guess you should get some extra rest, we're going to practice tomorrow after school."

"Are you going to be able to go to sleep at better time?" he asked.

"I'm sure, I'll be able to, anything to get my deal done," she answered.

"Are you sure, you really want to do your softball practicing tomorrow?" Ricky asked from the front of his door.

"You listening to my conversation?" Susan asked.

"You are in the hallway, the hallway is public space," Ricky replied with a smirk.

"Then why shouldn't I practice?" she asked.

"It's going to be foggy and cold again; that's what they said on the radio," her twin replied.

"We're in Michigan and it's March, I just got to use the time when there's no snow on the ground," Susan said.

"I'm hurt, you didn't ask me, your own twin brother," Ricky said.

"You always complain when I ask you," she said.

Lincoln didn't know to stand there or quietly back out. It did kind of remind him of his siblings having disputes at home if that's what this was. Maybe, he could help, he thought.

"I'm sorry, I hope I'm not intruding, she made a deal to eat one of my sandwiches in exchange for practicing with her," Lincoln chimed in.

"You actually ate one of those grody peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwiches, Susan?" Ricky asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"And you didn't die!" Ricky exclaimed.

"Very funny," Lincoln replied.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask you, Ricky," Susan said.

"I guess, I do sometimes get annoyed when you ask me so much," Ricky replied.

"You are my twin; I think you always be the one I ask, first," she replied.

The two siblings hugged and looked at Lincoln.

"Come on over here, Jungle Book, you can join in too," Ricky said.

"You are pretty much an honorary triplet" Susan replied.


	13. Chapter 13

New Chapter, This time, a little different style, but kind of fun I hope, anyway thanks for reading!

* * *

Saturday, March 13, 1976

It was Bobby's ninth birthday. The family had given him a fun morning of breakfast in bed, he got to watch his Saturday Morning cartoons in Ricky's room, so they could decorate the living room and prepare it for the party later that day. It was nearly half-past eleven in the morning.

"Russel, I need you to go to the bakery," Katherine said to her son.

"Aw Mom, I'm trying to listen to American Top 40," the teenager said.

"You have a portable radio," she said.

"It's cold outside," Russel said.

"We're in Michigan in winter," she replied.

"Why am I going to the bakery?" he asked.

"I need you to pick up the cake," she said.

"I thought we already had the cake?" he said.

"The backup cake."

His father overheard the conversation and had an idea.

"Come on, Boy, let's go get the backup cake," he said.

"What?" Both Russel and Katherine asked at the same time.

"How else do you expect the boy to get the cake?" he replied.

He looked at Russel and winked.

"That's right, a bike on the ice might not be a good idea, especially the Raleigh Chopper," Russel replied.

"Guess, you are right," she said.

"You can listen to American Top 40 in the car, son, get your stuff and let's go," he said.

"What about the money?" Katherine asked.

"I've got my wallet," Calvin replied.

"See ya, Mom," Russel said.

The boy walked with his father downstairs.

"Plus, if I hung around her any longer, your mother would have found something else for me to do," Calvin said.

"I heard that," Katherine said.

The two of them ran down the stairs and out of the house.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lincoln and Susan were in the grocery store, getting a few things.

"I don't like this place on a Saturday," Susan complained.

"It's not that bad," Lincoln said.

"Mom, and her tendency to want to get extra stuff in the fear that we run out," Susan replied.

"Guess, it's better than running out," Lincoln said.

"Maybe."

"Do all your birthday parties happen at your house?"

"Nah, we can choose almost anywhere within reason," she said.

Susan looked at the list her mother had written for her.

"We are done; let's go!' she said.

* * *

Ricky answered the door after the doorbell rang. Connie was holding a gift in his hands. Ricky acted like a butler and showed his friend into the house.

"Hey Ricky, I brought your brother a birthday gift," Connie replied.

"Aww, I thought that was for me," Ricky joked.

"Very funny; I almost slid on my bike getting here," he said.

"Are you alright?" Ricky asked.

"Yeah, I didn't die," he said.

"You can put the gift over there with the others."

* * *

Bobby and Sherry were watching TV in Ricky's room as the hour before the teenager programming came on, was being enjoyed. Spangles wondering around in a box that Sherry used to let him be free but contained.

"You're going to love my gift, " Sherry replied.

"Don't tell me what it is," he said.

"I won't; you'll like Spangles' gift too," She said.

"Spangles got me a gift?"

"Of course, he loves his brother and wanted to say Happy Birthday."

"Never change, Sherry."

There was a knock at the door, and Katherine entered the room.

"Hey, you two will have to get dressed soon," she said.

"It's his birthday, he should be able to stay like this all day," Sherry replied.

"Would make for a strange party," Katherine replied.

"Mom, for my birthday, can we invite Kojak?" Sherry asked.

"Uh, I see what I can do, anyway; I got something for you, Sherry."

Katherine pulled a small box from her jeans pocket and gave it to her daughter.

"Oh, it's a really small bow tie thingy," Sherry replied.

"It's for Spangles, to dress up for the party, you put on like a little collar," Katherine said.

"Spangles gets to be at the party?"

"Yeah, well, keep him in his hamster and monitor him."

"I didn't think you'd let him be there, thanks, Mommy."

"Thank your brother; he requested that Spangles had to be at his party."

Sherry smiled and squeezed Bobby to thank him for his kind act.

"Alright, you are squeezing too hard," Bobby struggled to say.

"Come on, Spangles, we are going to try your collar on," Sherry said to her mouse. She grabbed the box and walked out of the room.

"I'll be there in a minute to help you pick out something," her mother said.

Katherine stood at the door, watching her son watch TV; she was quiet and almost sentimental.

"What's wrong, Mom?" he asked.

"You probably don't understand, but all you, kids, birthdays always make me feel something I can't put to words," she said.

"That's because you are getting old, Mom," Ricky said.

She groaned as he walked into the room.

"Ricky, what are you doing?" she asked.

"It is my room, Mom," he said, "Also, Connie is here."

"You invited a friend?" she asked.

"No, Mowgli over here did," Ricky replied.

"Connie is also my friend," Bobby said.

"I've heard of sharing toys and clothes, friends, that's something," Katherine said.

"I'm going to go say hello," Bobby said.

* * *

Lincoln and Susan waited in the check-out line, getting bored by the minute. A woman in the front had looked like she brought as many coupons to buy everything she had.

"I bet these things are faster in the future," Susan replied.

"You really shouldn't say things like that out loud," Lincoln said.

"I'm an eleven-year-old girl, nobody's going to take anything I say seriously," Susan replied.

"Well, they aren't that much faster, there are places that have self check out, though," Lincoln explained.

"Self check out? Do you get naked?" Susan asked.

"No, instead of a person being behind the cash register, you scan your items and then pay the machine," Lincoln explained.

"Sounds awful."

"Why?"

"There's no one behind the register who's just as annoyed you are there, what does scan mean?"

"Oh yeah, that's where they use those little codes on the sides of stuff to make the price show up."

"That's right, I heard about my dad talking about how this new thing is happening where things have random numbers on them."

"The line is moving up."

* * *

Russel and his father were driving back home. Russel was holding the cake in its box on his lap. The radio was playing Russel's show as it headed into the second hour.

"We made good time, didn't we?" Calvin asked.

"Yeah, when does this party start, anyway?" Russel asked.

"Two O' Clock," Calvin replied.

"We have like two hours then," Russel said.

"Glad you are good at math, Son."

"You know, Dad, my sixteen birthday is around the corner."

"Around the corner? I thought you were good at telling time."

"I mean, it's never too early to start talking about cars."

"You want a car for your 16th birthday?"

"It doesn't have to be a new one, just shouldn't be a dorky one."

"Oh good, you know cars cost money, right?"

"Of course, I just want to implant the idea into your head early."

"Calm down on the trying to speed up, enjoy being thirteen, you only are once."

* * *

At the dining room table, Connie was looking at one of the photo albums that was left out. He was mostly entertaining himself. Ricky had to go outside and make sure there was no ice on the walkways. Sherry was dressed, she was wearing a blue dress with matching shoes. Spangles had a little bow tie collar.

"Aww, the baby pictures," Mrs. Pearson said as she caught a glimpse over Connie's shoulder.

"I like how you have it all organized with names and dates," Connie said.

"Thank you, I hope to pass these down to my kids, and hope they pass it down the family," she replied.

"Hmm, which kid gets them? And is this after you croak?" Connie asked.

"That's one way to put it, there's enough to split between the five of them."

"I think in most of my baby pictures, I'm naked."

"Hippies were strange like that."

"Mom, it's safe out there!" Ricky yelled.

"Alright!"

"Hey, Connie, if you don't mind, I want to put this up."

Bobby got dressed in plaid pants with a blue turtleneck, he decided against the matching plaid jacket. His tennis shoes were is normal ones with blue socks on his feet. He made sure his glasses were on straight, and his hair was combed. He took off his watch and left it on the nightstand.

After finishing up, he went downstairs. His mother saw him and smiled.

"Aww lookin' good," she said.

"Wow," Ricky said.

"Bobby looks groovy," Sherry replied.

"You guys are embarrassing him," Connie said.

Bobby looked around the living room seeing it decorated to look like a spacescape. Black and grey streamers were adorning the walls. Some stuff was wrapped in aluminum foil.

"Wait, there' s theme to this party?" Connie asked.

"You just noticed?" Bobby asked.

"I guess so, did I dress correctly?" Connie asked.

"You're fine," Ricky said.

* * *

Finally, Lincoln and Susan had made it to the cashier. The teenage girl started to add up the items; Susan had a calculator to double-check things. There was a teenage boy at the end putting the stuff in bags. Lincoln wondered how they were going to get this stuff home.

"That'll be $12.56," the girl said.

"Hmm, alright," Susan replied.

She pulled out a 10 dollar bill, a 2 dollar bill, 2 quarters, 1 penny, and 1 nickel, and handed the amount to the teenager.

"Uh, thanks," she said.

"You're welcome, I'll be sure to do my shopping here again," Susan said like it was the proper thing to say.

"I know you, you are Russel Pearson's sister, aren't you?" the teenage bag boy said.

"It depends, are you an enemy?" Susan asked.

"What? No, my sister is his friend," he said.

"Oh, then yes," Susan replied.

"Hurry up, I've got things to do!" a woman, behind them, yelled.

"Come on, Susan, let's go," Lincoln replied.

Outside, it was another freezing and slightly snowy Michigan day.

"We're going to walk with this stuff, all the way home?" Lincoln asked.

"Do you have a car?" she asked.

"No," Lincoln said.

"You future people are lazy, you should know that," Susan remarked.

* * *

Russel and Calvin made it home. Calvin felt it would be best if he held the cake. Russel was distracted by fumbling with a portable radio to finish the rest of his show.

"Thank you so much, both of you," Katherine said.

"Is there anything else you need to be done?" her husband asked.

"Not until the other kids show up for the party," she said in a sweet voice.

"Ah good."

"We just need Susan and Lincoln to come back and we can do the little ceremony," she said.

"Wait what?" Connie asked.

"Well, Bobby's birthday usually falls on a school day, so we usually have a small thing on his birthday, then hold a party either before on after his real date; we are doing the same thing, just on the same date," Ricky explained.

Lincoln and Susan walked checking their steps to make sure they didn't slip on random patches of ice. Lincoln had trouble trying to keep the heavy bag in check, Susan seemed to be in less of a bothered mood.

"Don't worry, Lincoln, we are almost there," she said.

"I'm alright," Lincoln said.

Susan chuckled.

"I hope you won't tell your family, we overworked you," she said.

"I don't think you ever overworked me," he said.

"You know, Bobby is really happy to have you around for his birthday," she replied.

"It's not like I planned it that way, but I'm glad he's happy," Lincoln said.

* * *

Spangles rolled around in his clear hamster ball across the floor. It was a good thing Katherine was paying attention to where her feet were going. She looked down at the mouse in the ball and rolled her eyes.

"Sherry, I told you to pay attention to this mouse, or I'll uninvite him from the party," she said.

"I was watching him," Sherry pleaded.

"Oh, really, then what did I almost trip over?" her mother asked.

"Your shoelaces?" Sherry questioned.

"As I said, watch that mouse or else," she said.

Russel was writing names on some goodie bags that were to be given away during the party. He looked at a piece of paper to check each name was spelled correctly.

"I didn't know Bobby was having a boy-girl party," he joked.

He grabbed Connie's empty coke bottle and spun it around.

"Now that would be a fun party."

"Gross," Rick said.

"You, just wait, soon you'll see a girl you like and will be wishing to play spin the bottle," Russel replied.

Russel spun the bottle on the dining room table and it stopped.

"Oh look Spangles, Russel has to kiss you," Ricky replied.

"I'm not kissing that mouse," Russel replied.

"You kind of just have to kiss the ball," Ricky said.

"I'll do it if you spin the bottle and kiss who it lands on," Russel said.

Ricky grabbed a marker and looked at the name list and started adding names to some of the bags, herself. He didn't say a word.

Lincoln and Susan made it home. They set the extra groceries in the kitchen. Lincoln walked into the dining room and tripped and his face landed right in a cake.

"That's why I got the extra cake," Katherine said.

"Are you alright there?" Calvin asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lincoln said.

"Poor Lincoln, go get cleaned up, I'll take care of this mess," Katherine said.

She looked down and saw Spangles' on the ground rolling around.

"Sherry, put Spangles in your room, I told you!" she yelled.

"But, I didn't leave him there, I had him on the table, out of the way," the little girl cried.

"He rolled off, obviously," her mother said.

"But he doesn't do that!" Sherry yelled.

"Take him up..." Before Katherine could finish, Ricky stopped her.

"I didn't know he was up there for a reason; I moved him so he wouldn't roll into the cake, please don't blame her," Ricky said.

Katherine bit her lip for a second and let out a breath.

"Then I apologize, Sherry, and thanks to Ricky for being so forthcoming," she said.

* * *

"Hey Lincoln, you are supposed to put cake in your mouth, not on your face," Russel joked, as he saw the boy walking to the bathroom.

Lincoln groaned as he closed the door behind him. Russel shrugged it off and saw Bobby's boots in the hallway.

"Bobby, you are supposed to...I guess I'll be nice and just put them in his room for him; it's his birthday," Russel said.

He walked to Bobby's room and placed the boots by some other shoes he saw figuring that's where they go. There was a piece of paper laying on the ground, it was strange for Bobby's mostly neat room.

"What are you doing in my room?" Bobby asked.

"There you are, I was putting your boots away, you left them in the hall," Russel replied.

"Thanks," said Bobby.

The older brother walked away.

"Wait, you dropped your paper!" Bobby called.

"That's not mine, I thought it was yours," he said.

"Oh, well," Bobby said.

The boy took the paper and ripped it in half and threw it away in the wastebasket. He didn't read the front where it said: Lincoln, it's me, Lisa, please write back and send it through the watch, by pressing the mode button and holding the light button at the same time. I think.


	14. Chapter 14

** Back with more. This chapter gives clues that we know what they mean but they won't that's always fun. And Sometimes Burn out happens and Lisa deals with that since all she's been doing has been trying to figure out how to get Lincoln back. Anyway, enjoy ! ( I had to update to correct a name mistake) **

* * *

Present Day Present Time

Lisa had been working on a mission to figure out how to contact Lincoln in a different universe, they thought where he was. She, along with Lola, was looking at her computer screen to see if her latest idea had proven fruitful.

"It's like paper, it works like paper, a little too much, but it can send signals back, and those signals show what was written on them," Lisa explained.

"So, you went through all that trouble to make paper?" Lola asked.

"This was a previous invention, made for the government," Lisa replied.

"Why would the government want...?" Lola didn't finish that question.

"I am hoping that Lincoln may have written on this paper."

"Did you send him another message?"

"No, I am hoping he would try to write back on any of the three sheets I sent."

"Half of your plans are hopes."

Ignoring the pageant princess, Lisa pressed a combination of keys on her computer and then clicked.

"It would seem that all three sheets of paper were able to send their signals through well, thanks to some modifications," She said.

The software could only pick up things in black in white, it was copying anything put on the paper electronically. The young genius was hoping to work on a newer version that could transmit in color; the government was hoping she would also.

"What is that?" Lola asked.

The first image seemed to be a drawing, done in crayon, the texture made it look like a crayon.

"I think it's a rodent of some sort," Lisa replied.

"That's like a mouse or rat," Lola said.

"Hold on, the rest of the image is processing," Lisa said.

It was a drawing of a girl's head with hearts for eyes, with a giant heart next to a mouse. With the words -Sherry loves Spangles- underneath.

"Sherry loves Spangles?" Lisa questioned.

"Some girl got hold of your paper," Lola replied.

"I thought transmitting paper would be more direct than a person," Lisa murmured.

The second image was by the same person, it had a picture of a mouse and the word- Spangles- underneath. Lisa placed her palm on her face and ran it down until it slipped off.

"This person has an unhealthy obsession with her pet," Lola said.

Lana walked by the open door and could be heard having a conversation with her pet frog- Hops.

"I wish they were at least a clue about something in these papers," Lisa replied.

"There's one more, right?" Lola asked.

"Yes, I guess we should proceed to see what else we are brought," Lisa replied.

The third image looked more detailed like it had a different artist, and was drawn with something else. It was a bust of a bald man, with the word- Kojak- on top.

"What's a Kojak?" Lola asked.

"I would assume it's this guy," Lisa said.

"Maybe it's some girl- named Sherry- who has a pet mouse, and a bald father named Kojack," Lola replied.

"Maybe we do have a clue," Lisa replied.

"Are there backside of the pages?" Lola questioned.

Lisa rubbed her chin in thought and bit her lip.

"I guess, let's try," she replied.

The back of the "Kojack" paper had nothing there, neither did the second Spangles drawing. The first may have been something of help. It said: Cindy, 1420 South Clay Street.

"That looks like an address," Lola replied.

"The handwriting looks different than the first two pictures, and the last picture," Lisa replied.

Lisa brought up her browser and typed in- 1420 South Clay- street. It seemed like a weird and useless idea, but as a scientist, she had to weigh any possibility and outcome.

"There's a Clay Street here in Royal Woods," she said.

"Maybe Lincoln is in Royal Woods," Lola replied.

"That doesn't make any sense," Lisa said.

"And why not?" Lola questioned angrily.

The 4-year-old thought for a moment, anything could maybe be possible. There was no proof that Lincoln was in town, but there may be a connection.

Lori was texting on her phone and doing whatever she does. Lisa coughed to get her attention. Lola was by her side.

"What is it?" Lori asked.

"We may have found Lincoln!" Lola cheered.

"What? You were going to take forever to get to the point," she said to Lisa.

"Wait, what?" Lori asked.

"Our sister here may have jumped the proverbial gun; I think we have a clue on something connected to our brother," Lisa explained.

"Well, get on it!" Lori shouted.

"We need a ride," Lola replied.

They rode to southbound Clay Street and looked for the address 1420. The place at 1420 was a flower shop- Tiffany's Flowers. Lori put money in the parking meter, while Lisa started to look around. Lola was busy looking in the mirror before she exited the van.

"I don't see Lincoln, and this place says Tiffany's not Cindy," Lori grumbled.

"Maybe there's a Cindy inside," Lola replied.

"Fine, but we literally have 30 minutes," Lori replied.

The flower shop looked like a standard flower shop, it had different sample bouquets on display. There was a sale on roses going on, nothing about the place seemed to be strange.

"Excuse me, is there a Cindy here," Lori asked.

A woman behind the counter, who looked to be in her early 50s, seemed to be confused. She was willing to help, though. Her name tag said -Gloria.

"Cindy? We don't have a Cindy who works here, it's just me, my sister-in-law Bev, and some teenagers, none of them named Cindy," Gloria replied.

"This is 1420 South Clay street, correct?" Lisa questioned.

"Yes, it is little lady, we've been here since 1991, " the woman said.

"Have you seen this boy?" Lola asked, holding a picture of Lincoln.

"Hmm, I have!" she said.

"Really?" the three girls asked.

"I never forget a boy who looks like that," Gloria replied.

"Yeah, when, where is he?" Lori asked.

"Not sure where he went, because I saw him four months ago," Gloria replied.

"Sorry to waste your time, Maam," Lisa said.

Back at her computer, dejected, Lisa felt like giving up, a clue it was never. Lola typed in Kojak on the computer. Her thoughts were going with if that's someone's name; then, it might be easy to find the person, it didn't seem like a common name.

"This says that Kojak was tv series from 1973 to 1978, about a detective named Theo Kojak," Lola read aloud.

Lisa got up from her bed and walked over to see what Lola was talking about.

"There was a TV show called Kojak, so what?"Lisa asked.

"The man looks like the drawing, a little, they are both bald men, and have those retro sunglasses," Lola replied.

"Let's admit these aren't good clues," Lisa replied.

"I'm getting about a Sherry Kojak, at all, though," Lola answered.

"Oh, that's too bad," Lisa said sarcastically.

"When I type in Sherry and mouse, I get some book made by a woman named Sherry who wrote about mice," Lola said.

"If there are supernatural forces out there, I'd say they are doing a good job of messing with me," Lisa said.

"What if Lincoln got transported into an old TV show from the 1970s, and he's living inside the reruns?" Lola asked.

Lisa hit her head repeatedly on her soft mattress- don't want to mess up the brain- the whole day was a sour note.

"I should give up the pursuits of science, I've peaked. I should go away, become a nun, take a vow of silence, and live far away from civilization," Lisa moaned.

"They say, I'm a drama queen, you'd win an Oscar for that," Lola replied.

"I am beginning to think that Lucy was right; everything we try will fail, and we should just wait for Lincoln to finish what he has to do then come back."

"Lisa, you need some beauty rest, well, maybe just rest in your case, you are slightly losing it," Lola replied with partial concern.

The younger sister didn't hear what Lola said, as she was passed out on the bed, already. Lola covered her up with the blanket and exited the room.

* * *

[ A few hours Later?]

Lisa rubbed her head and yawned. Sleep was what she needed. She felt slightly better than she did before. The weight of everything returned after she got up from the bed. She wondered if she should even continue doing all this work to figure out where he went. Being a genius was tough and lonely, she wished the house had more science interested family members.

"What does a 1970s TV series, mouse, a girl named Sherry, have to do with anything?" Lisa questioned.

Then she put her glasses back on and thought for a moment. Strangely, everything seemed clearer. She had an epiphany, it should have been obvious from the start.

"The lack of sleep, I've been doing has made me not see clearly," she said.

She let her emotions show as the feeling of pressure released from her, she felt as light as a bird, as they say.

"These clues aren't clues, they have nothing to do with Lincoln; the papers were just picked by some girl who loves her pet mouse, and an old TV show, the name, and address on the back were someone writing a reminder to themselves. Yes, get someone named Cindy some flowers," she rationalized.

"I should just focus on getting Lincoln back, in one piece, if possible," she said.

"Do you talk to yourself often?" a voice said.

She turned her head and was surprised by what she saw. It was Bobby. Or to the Loud family, the boy they thought was Lincoln. She didn't say a word.

"It's me, Lincoln," he said.

"I'm one to doubt such things at face value," she replied.

"So you need proof, then?" he asked.

"That would be a start," she said

"How about my hair, for a start," he said.

He grabbed a tuff of brown hair and pointed at it. Lisa pointed at the mirror for him to look at. The boy realized that his orange shirt and blue pants were slightly oversized slightly, his distinctive white hair was brown, and he was wearing glasses.

"Oh no," he said.

"I'm going to need better proof," she replied.

"Hmm, I've got it!" he said.

He walked over slowly while holding his pants up with his right hand. Then he bent down slightly and whispered something into Lisa's ear.

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"Well, I'm Lincoln, and I know things that only Lincoln would know," he said.

She started to tear up, something different, for her to do, and she collapsed into the boy's arms. When she opened her eyes again, she noticed that she was wrapped in a blanket. "Of course, a dream," she replied. She noticed the time, it was nearly 6PM. It seemed she had rested for a few hours. She felt refreshed, good sleep is something she needed.

"I think I shall take a break this evening and tomorrow, I'll try to figure out what I should do next, with a clearer mind," she said.


	15. Chapter 15

Another chapter. I wanted Lincoln to spend some times with the Pearson family members I haven't really written him with, so that's Russel and the boy who found him, Ricky. (That will be a later chapter) So anyway, I hope you like and enjoy!

* * *

Sunday, March 14, 1976

Church services ended, and the Pearsons were about to leave. It was another cold overcast day; they were waiting for to get the station wagon closer to the doors. Russel had seen a girl that seemed to take his interest. She was tall with long black hair done in a ponytail. She was wearing a pink dress with a matching pink jacket, black Mary Jane shoes, and light pink tights. With some time on his hands, he walked over to her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hello," she replied.

"I saw you over there and thought you looked cute," he said.

"Really; that's how you introduce yourself?" she asked.

Russel rubbed the back of his head and blushed.

"I'm sorry; I wanted to make us talking seem less awkward from the start," he said.

"A lot of boys just kind of stammer like dorks," she said.

"Do you want to hang out; sometime?" he asked.

She giggled, the eldest Pearson boy was either quick or dumb, in her thoughts.

"How about this afternoon at Speedy's?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure, what time?" he asked.

"Hmm, 3:30?"

"Cool, yeah."

"Wait, I would have to take my younger sister, and I don't want her bored."

"I have two younger sisters, how old is she?"

"She's ten."

"Cool, I have a sister close to that age, I could..."

"Do you have any brothers?"

"Brothers?"

"She likes to hang out with boys more than girls."

"Uh, yeah, I have a brother the same age as that sister."

"Cool, bring him along,"

"Wait, what's your name?"

"Cindy, and don't bring up the girl from the Brady Bunch, or I'll kick you!"

"Alright," he said.

"Well, what's your name, Dummy?" she asked.

"Russel, my name is Russel," he replied.

The boy ran, feeling like a feather on his feet, only slowing down so none of the church ladies would scold him. He had lost his family somewhere in the church.

"Dang it," he said.

He walked outside to see if he could see the family station wagon. Instead, he accidentally bumped into the pastor.

"Sorry, Pastor," he said.

"Hey, Russel Pearson, is everything alright?" the pastor asked in a calm voice.

"I'm just looking for my family's station wagon," he said.

Just then, he could hear the horn honking. He said his goodbye to the pastor and ran to the wagon. He got inside and sat next to Sherry.

"Good thing, we're patient," Calvin replied.

"Yeah, we almost left you here," Susan said.

"We should have left you here, Susan," Bobby remarked.

"Sorry, Dad," Russel said.

Russel looked over to see who was where. He was in the 2nd row with Sherry and Susan. In the back were Ricky, Lincoln, and Bobby.

"Dad, are we doing anything this afternoon?" Russel asked.

"You have something you want to do?" his father asked.

"Well, there's this girl and..." Russel started.

"I'm just going to relax and catch a basketball game," Calvin interrupted.

"You didn't ask me if I had anything planned," Katherine said.

"Well, do you, Mom?" he asked.

"I probably don't need your help with Sunday dinner," she replied.

"Thanks, Mom," he said.

"What time will you be gracing, this girl, with your presence?" Calvin asked.

"What?" Russel asked.

"What time are you going to be hanging out, Stupid," Susan translated.

"Susan, don't say stupid," Katherine corrected.

"Mommy, you said it," Sherry said.

"Yeah, Mom, why did you say that?" Ricky asked.

"Guys!" Russel whined.

"Just say the time," Calvin said.

"3:30," Russel answered.

"Not a long time, dinner is at 5:30, so be home before 5:15," she said.

"Why, 5:30?" Ricky asked.

"Sherry wants to see the Wizard of OZ on TV at 7," Katherine explained.

"How come she gets to pick the show?" Susan asked.

"There's nothing else anyway," Ricky said.

Russel looked at the clock on the dashboard; it was 12:30; he had time. He didn't feel like asking Ricky until he got home. They finally did make it there. The rush of kids into the house was like a stampede. Russel was the only one who didn't rush in; he was mostly distracted.

He walked upstairs to his bedroom and closed the door. He took off his dress shoes and socks, dress pants, coat, suit jacket, and shirt; and threw them on his bed. He searched around his dresser to get a clean pair of tube socks, and a pair of plaid pants. Then he looked around for a striped, long-sleeved polo shirt, and got dressed. In the mirror, he looked at his blond hair and brushed it down.

"Russel, don't forget to hang up your Sunday clothes, or you can't go out!" He heard his mother yell from the steps.

He sighed. Getting on his mother's nerves wasn't the best idea, and it wouldn't matter if he could catch Ricky or not. After he finished, correctly, putting his Sunday clothes up, he ran out of his room to check for Ricky. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

"Ricky and Susan left," Sherry replied.

"Dang it," he said.

The teenager banged his hand on the wall. Being resourceful, he thought, "Bobby, just turned nine, that's close to ten." He ran to Bobby's room, but Sherry had followed him.

"Bobby's outside; we're going ice skating; can you help me with my zipper?" she asked.

"Fine," he said, with exasperation.

He zipped up her coat, and she went downstairs to leave the house.

"Why is everyone in this house so fast?" he asked himself.

In defeat, he sulked back to his room, but he bumped into Lincoln.

"Linc!" he exclaimed.

Before the Loud boy could say anything, the teenager grabbed him and took him to his room.

"What's going on?" Lincoln asked him, annoyed about being grabbed.

"I need your help," Russel said.

Russel rubbed his hair back, letting it fall back down into place.

"I found this girl, she's cute and wanted to meet me at Speedy's, but she also wanted someone for her little sister," he explained.

"What does that have to do with...oh..." Lincoln figured out what the boy was getting at.

"I don't feel like going on a date," Lincoln said.

"What? It's not a date; you are keeping a 10-year-old tomboy entertained for a little over an hour," Russel said.

"I don't know," Lincoln said.

"Please, Lincoln, this chick is really cute," Russel replied.

As much as he wanted to refuse, Russel's eyes were pleading him to say yes.

"I'll pay for everything, within reason," Russel bargained.

The desperation in the teenager's voice made Lincoln willing to along with it; it wasn't going to be a long time.

"I'll do it," Lincoln said.

He felt Russel hug and squeeze his body like he saved the teenager's life. Russel told him he didn't have to change from what he was already wearing: an orange long sleeve t-shirt with blue jeans. Lincoln had time to do other things until 3 PM, as well.

Russel joined his father in the living room to watch some basketball; Lincoln wanted some lunch.

"Hey, Lincoln," Katherine said.

"Hi, Mrs. P. do you mind me getting some lunch?" Lincoln asked.

"Nah, it is that time, let me make you a quick sandwich," she said.

"I could have made it myself; I don't want to interrupt what you were doing," Lincoln said.

"I'm taking a break making food by making food," she joked.

The Loud boy sat down at the small table in the kitchen. The woman took out some read, lunch meat, lettuce and tomato, and cheese.

"What are you making for dinner, anyway?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm making pot roast; there's going to be fresh biscuits and cranberry sauce," she said.

Lincoln tilted his head at hearing about cranberry sauce. She was working the sandwich and putting things away at the same time.

"Do you have any plans for today?" she asked.

"I'm going with Russel, the girl he met has a younger sister," Lincoln replied.

"That's why he was in such a hurry, I see," she replied.

She grabbed mustard and mayo from the fridge.

"Do you want both, neither, or just one?" she asked.

"Both," Lincoln replied.

"Are you sure you want to go?" she asked.

"I didn't, but it might turn out fun," he said.

"If you feel like Russel or anyone is taking advantage of your kindness, please tell them, and me," she said.

"Okay," he said.

The sandwich was finished, she plated it, and put it on the table.

"Thank you," he said.

"Sure thing," she replied.

She looked at her roast that was cooking in the slow cooker and smiled.

"It's looking good," she said.

"It smells good too," Lincoln said.

"Thanks, Sweetie," she said.

After having lunch, Lincoln thought it might be a good idea to look through his phone. He had been more careful with it, it was his only link back home. There was a hope that maybe it would ring and hear one of his sisters on the line. He looked at pictures of Clyde and wondered how Clyde was taking it. Clyde wasn't one to be keeping himself together.

"I wish you were here with me, Buddy," he said.

He wondered about Mr. Grouse, the grumpy, but still kind of friendly next-door neighbor. The house next door to the Pearsons would eventually become the home of Mr. Grouse. At that moment, it was empty after some neighbors moved away after retirement.

"Lincoln!' he heard a voice call.

"I'm in here!" Lincoln called from Bobby's room.

Russel walked into the room Lincoln was sitting on the floor, next to an outlet, the phone on its charger.

"Hey, Lincoln, I feel kind of bad," he said.

"Huh, why?" Lincoln asked.

"I was thinking about how I begged you to come with me, and you might not have a cool time, and I'd feel bad," he said.

"It's alright," Lincoln said.

"I just didn't want you mad at me; especially if you go back to your time... well, having someone mad at you 40 years into the future would make a guy feel even worse," Russel explained.

Lincoln couldn't help but laugh a little.

"I wasn't expecting that," Russel said.

"I'm sorry, I was just surprised you thought I was going to be mad at you," Lincoln said.

"Well, it's just you've become like another brother to me," Russel replied.

"I'm honored," Lincoln said.

"So, if you don't want to go, you don't have to," Russel said.

"No, let's go," he said.

All Mrs. Pearson said was to be back before 5:15, as the two boys got on bikes and rode to Speedy's. Speedy's was a place where older kids, but younger than late teenagers, would hang out and play games. It was like an arcade, minus the video games. Lincoln had been there before, and he figured the place went away sometime before he was born.

"This place looks kind of dead," Russel said.

"Might be the wind," Lincoln said.

"Come on, Linc, let's play skee ball," Russel suggested.

At 3:45 PM Cindy showed up, she was wearing jeans and a yellow sweater, a less formal look than when Russel saw her at church. With her, was her little sister; the girl had black hair cut in a bowl cut; she was wearing blue jeans and a plaid button-up shirt.

"Sorry, we're late, my sister here was being tedious," Cindy said.

"It's alright," Russel said.

"So, this the brother you were talking about?" Cindy asked, looking at Lincoln.

"His hair is freaky," the other girl said.

"This is my cousin, Lincoln," Russel said.

"Cousin, interesting," Cindy replied.

"Hello," Lincoln said.

"Oh, this is my sister, Penny," Cindy said.

"Hey," Penny said.

"Well, we have about an hour to be here," Russel said.

"That's not long at all," Cindy replied.

"I have to be home before 5:15," Russel said.

While Russel and Cindy went to play some games; Penny was still looking at Lincoln.

"So, you are that boy's cousin?" she asked.

"Yeah," Lincoln said.

"Is that your real hair?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," he said.

"I'm going, to be honest with you; I didn't want to come down here, but my boy-crazy sister wanted me to come here. I'm not expecting to play with some beaver boy," she said.

Lincoln kind of wondered how Bobby or Ricky would have reacted to this girl. Ricky would have insulted her back just on her hair cut alone. Lincoln brushed it off. Strangely enough, Penny didn't like that.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Going to play a game," Lincoln answered.

"You were supposed to call me a name or something, Stupid!" she said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because, that's how it works," she said.

"Do you want to play a game with me or not?" Lincoln asked.

"Well, if you are going to beg me, then sure," she said.

Lincoln and Penny played a few games together. She was surprised at how Lincoln didn't even think to ask her about any of the more "girly" games. The Loud boy kind of wished it was an arcade; he would have loved to play a video game for the first time in months.

The time had reached 4:55, which Lincoln noted. Russel said goodbye to the girls and Lincoln did the same. They put on their coats and rode home.

"So, did you have fun?" Lincoln asked.

"She's cute, but she was kind of boring; she kept talking about what she was going to wear to school, this week," Russel said.

"Oh, her sister was strange too," Lincoln replied.

"I'm sorry," Russel replied.

"It's probably a good thing; I don't want someone's future Mom having a crush on me," Lincoln said.

The two boys put the bikes in the garage and walked inside the house to get ready for dinner.


	16. Chapter 16

Posting this chapter on the date that is the 1st anniversary of this story. It's a nice long one, too. Thank you for reading this story! I really do hope you are enjoying it. Here is the 16th chapter.

* * *

Thursday, March 25, 1976

Bobby came home before any of his siblings and Lincoln had. He didn't have the best day. His mother was watching "The Doctors" on television while she was dusting. He ran into the house and threw his backpack and coat down. Katherine noticed her son's reaction. She didn't yell at him for throwing his stuff down.

"What's wrong, Robert?" she asked.

"Mrs. Monroe took my watch," he said.

"Hmm, why did she your watch?" she asked.

"Because, she wanted to ruin my day," he replied.

"Come on, I'm trying to help you," she said.

Bobby took off his boots and looked up at his mother's face. Her expression wasn't one of any anger or annoyance, she was genuinely interested in wanting to make sure her son wasn't sad.

"It started beeping; I don't know why it did it, but it did, and I tried to stop it, she thought I was playing with it and asked me to give to her," he explained.

"You don't know why it was beeping?" his mother asked.

"No, it has been doing some funny stuff recently, but I wouldn't set it to beep in class," he said.

"You are telling me the truth, correct?" she asked.

He looked at her face and didn't say anything. All he could do was start crying. She picked up son and held him in her arms.

"You're getting heavy, you know; now, stop crying, everything will be alright," she said.

She looked at the clock and without saying a word; grabbed her coat, and car keys.

"Robert, get your stuff, back on, we're going," was all she did say.

Lincoln had stayed at school a little longer after it ended because he was helping Audrey find her flute inside her locker, which wasn't clean or organized. The case had ended up being pushed from the front, at the start of the day, to the back behind her history and science books.

"Thanks, Lincoln, my mom would have killed me and had me stuffed," she said.

"I'm glad we found it, then," he said.

"I really don't like playing it, but my Mom said something about me doing something constructive after school," she said.

"I understand," Lincoln said.

"Well, thanks Lincoln, see you tomorrow in class," she said.

"Alright, Audrey, see ya," he replied.

He walked down the line of lockers and there was Mrs. Monroe, the third grade, teacher looking out her door like she was expecting someone.

"Wait!" she yelled.

"Me?" Lincoln questioned.

"Yep, come here," she said.

"I'm sorry, I was just helping a friend, I am leaving now," he said.

"You're not in trouble; you're Robert Pearson's cousin, correct?" she asked.

"Yes, you mean Bobby?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"No, I forgot to give him back his watch, and he left so quickly, I plum forgot," she replied.

"Oh," he said.

She handed Lincoln the fancy watch, it was kind of strange to her, how it looked. She thought it looked expensive.

"Tell him, I misunderstood, and thought he was playing with it, but the thing beeped at me, so it might need a battery or something," she said.

"I will, thanks," Lincoln said.

"I should have understood he wasn't doing anything on purpose, he is one my best students," she said.

So, he wouldn't lose it, Lincoln put it on his wrist.

"Have a good day, I've got to pick up these papers that fell over," she said.

"Thanks, you too," Lincoln said.

The boy went to his locker and grabbed his coat and backpacked and headed for the door. The watch started to beep again. It was a strange beep, it was beep…. beep, beep…beeeeep…. Be…eep… He didn't really know what the all the buttons did so he pressed a couple. The 1, 5, and minus buttons. It did stop making noise, so he was sure whatever he did had fixed it. He saw Audrey again, who looked like she was in a panicked state.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Hey Lincoln, I can't my find my flute," she said.

He tilted his head and put his finger in ear to make sure it wasn't clogged.

"Your flute?" he asked, empathizing he word flute.

"Yeah, I can't find it in my locker," she replied.

"I thought we just found it behind your history and science books," he said.

"Really?" she asked.

"I barely checked, I poked around then checked my backpack 3 times, and then you saw me," she said.

Lincoln was confused about what was going on. He was sure he just helped her with this very problem.

"Let's go check," he said.

"Are you sure? I don't want to mess up your afternoon," she said.

"You aren't, I don't want your Mom to get mad at you," he said.

"Yeah she would kill me and stuff me, If I lost that thing," she replied.

She opened her locker and Lincoln noticed that it had the mess exact mess, it did the last time he just helped her. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't confused. He looked at the watch on his wrist, to make sure that wasn't imagined too. She pushed the stuff aside and found her science book on top of her history book, buried under some papers and folders, and just as Lincoln said; her flute inside its case was there.

"Thank you, Lincoln, you must really know me," she said.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," he replied.

"I should really clean this place," she replied.

She hugged him as thanks.

"I really don't like playing it, but my Mom said something about me doing something constructive after school," she said.

"Yeah, I understand," Lincoln said.

"Thanks, and see you tomorrow in class," she replied.

"Yeah, see ya," he said.

He walked towards the doors again, this time noticing he wasn't stopped by Mrs. Monroe. He looked at one of the clocks on the hallway walls and noticed the time was 12 minutes earlier than it was the last time. Maybe it was a long day. Outside, he got some air. It wasn't a freezing cold day, this time, it was in the upper 50's which felt good, compared to the bitter 20's. Some kids who were lingering weren't wearing coats anymore. The watch beeped again. Lincoln just pressed the plus button and hoped that would shut it up. As he walked towards the front of the school, he saw a familiar station wagon drive up.

"Hey Lincoln!" yelled Mrs. Pearson.

Lincoln walked over the passenger door, where Bobby was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Were you getting some extra learning in?" she asked.

"I was helping Audrey find her flute," he said.

"Aww, her little hero," she said.

"Lincoln likes a girl," Bobby taunted.

"I'm here to help Robert get his watch," she said.

"Oh, yeah, Bobby, your teacher gave me this," he said, as he showed him his wrist.

"My Watch!" Bobby exclaimed.

"She said, she misunderstood and that the watch beeped at her without you around, and se also forgot to give it to you after class," Lincoln explained.

Bobby smiled, he was happy that his watch was fine and for a different reason as well.

"I'm glad Mrs. Monroe doesn't hate me," he said.

"It beeped at me too," Lincoln said.

"If it's doing something weird, you should stop taking it too school, Robert," Katherine said.

"But Mom, it's my watch for telling time," he said.

"Can't have it disrupting class," she said.

"Maybe I can fix it or something," he replied.

"Do something about it, or I won't be so willing to help next time," she said.

"That's why you came down here?" Lincoln asked.

"Of course," she said.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Bobby replied.

"It's fine, just remember that I'll drop anything for you, so when you get mad at me about something, remember that" she replied.

"Hey Lincoln, you going somewhere, if not, you can ride home with us," she said.

"Uh, I was going to hang out with Ricky, but I do need to put my stuff somewhere, so sure!" he said.

"Come on," she said.

At the house, Lincoln wanted to hand Bobby the watch, but Bobby told him to hang on to it, since he was going to go play in some mud. Lincoln rubbed his temples; he had gained a slight headache. Katherine noticed this and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I think so, have you ever felt like you did something twice in a short amount of time?" he asked.

Katherine looked over at the mess of clothes on the floor then back at Lincoln.

"Many times," she replied.

"It's funny, I swore I helped Audrey find her flute in her locker, then after I got called by Mrs. Monroe, I ended up doing the same thing, and Audrey didn't seem to be playing around," Lincoln explained.

"I'm not sure, maybe time travel does weird things to your mind," Katherine said.

"That's the first time that's happened," Lincoln said.

"Maybe you need something, come on," she said.

In the kitchen she took a can of ginger ale and poured a small amount into a glass, then added small amount of table salt.

"Drink this, it should help your dizzy feeling," she said.

"Are you sure this works?" he asked.

"Don't doubt it," she replied.

He drank it and was glad it was really a small amount. The watch beeped some more. He just hit it with his other hand that time, and it seemed to stop without it breaking. He looked at the time; it was alright for him to go and find Ricky, the headache did seem to go away.

Later, at dinner time…

The Pearsons were sitting around the dining room table eating Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, beets, and biscuits. Russel had asked his mom for the signed permission slip for his field trip the next day. Ricky talked about how his class was going to the middle school in a couple weeks for a preview day. Lincoln remembered when he went with Clyde to one of those.

"Spangles gets to go to school tomorrow," Sherry said.

"That's tomorrow?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah, you remember, Mom? She begged you all year long to let Spangles go to…" Bobby

said.

"I know," she said, cutting off her son, "I just have to figure out something."

"Are you saying you are breaking your promise, Mommy?" Sherry asked.

"Yeah, Mom, breaking promises is bad thing to do," Russel chimed in.

"So is being annoying," Susan said to Russel.

"Nope, I'm not breaking my promise; just have to think up logistics of getting that mouse there in back in one piece," Katherine said.

"Beep…Beeeeep…..beep…beep," the watch went.

Lincoln was still wearing the thing. He looked at and wondered why it never beeped the same way, twice.

"That watch is being weirder than normal," Calvin said.

"Beep, Beep, Beeeeeeeeep,….beep," the watch beeped.

"Yeah, that is weird," Lincoln said.

"It sounds like a message," Susan said.

"Yeah, it's saying Susan is crazy," Russel joked.

"Maybe it's saying Russel is stupid," Susan said.

"Sounds like it's distressed," Calvin said.

"Wasn't expecting Dad to make jokes," Bobby replied.

"Can I see that Lincoln?" he said.

"Uh, sure," Lincoln replied.

Lincoln took it off his wrist and handed it to Ricky to hand it to Susan to hand it to Mr. Pearson. The man looked at the watch, he always found it strange. It beeped again.

"This thing has an alarm," he said.

"Yeah, but I never figured out how it worked," Bobby explained.

"I don't that's what making it beep, it seems very advanced for a watch," Calvin said.

"Maybe it's getting ready for Daylight Saving Time," Ricky said.

"That's a month away," Susan said.

"It's confused," Ricky replied.

"I'm surprised it's later here; in my time it starts in March," Lincoln said.

"I'm surprised, they didn't get rid of it the future," Kathrine said.

Calvin pressed two buttons together and it beeped again, but it was just one beep, not a sequence.

"What did you do?" his wife asked him.

"It said alarm on, so I tried to turn off the alarm, maybe that'll stop it," Calvin said.

He handed it back to Bobby, who said it was Lincoln's turn to wear it still. Whatever Calvin did, the watch did stop beeping, at least for then.

"Does dis-dress mean a kind of dress?" Sherry asked.

"No, honey, it means in worry, like if Spangles got lost you would be very worried and sad, that's distressed," he explained.

"I wonder if I'll have that word for the spelling bee," Sherry said.

"That's probably a fourth-grade word," Calvin replied.

"How would the beeps sound like distressed, though?" Susan asked.

"I mean a distress signal, it sounded like that, one that planes would use if they were in trouble, and might crash, or a boat having pirates or something," Calvin explained.

"Pirates aren't real dad," Ricky said.

"Kind of, the ones in books aren't exactly how real ones were, there are some now too," he said.

"Alright, more eating, less pirate talk," Katherine said.

Friday, March 26, 1976

Lincoln got dressed in an orange turtleneck and blue jeans. He looked in the mirror and made sure his hair was alright. It was strange to him having his hair this long. Next, he put on his boots, grabbed his coat, and backpack, and left the room. He did like having the attic, he wondered if he could ask his parents to make, no way, there would be a fight.

"What are you doing, Lincoln?" Ricky asked.

"Getting ready to go to school," Lincoln said, confused.

"It's going to be in the 70's today and it's dry out there, you don't need your boots," Ricky said.

Ricky was wearing blue jeans, a short-sleeved t-shirt, and normal tennis shoes.

"Oh," Lincoln said.

"You still might want your jacket, though, I'm wearing a tank top under this shirt, for after school," Ricky replied.

Lincoln went back to his room and changed out of his boots. He still was thinking about the day before and whatever happened with Audrey and the flute. At least the watch didn't beep all night, whatever Mr. Pearson had done to it, it worked.

"Good Morning, Lincoln," Sherry said.

Sherry was extremely happy, she got to have Spangles go to school for show 'n tell. Spangles was in his travel cage. The travel cage was slightly smaller than his normal cage. He seemed pleased.

"Good Morning, Spangles," Lincoln said.

The mouse looked at him, at least he thought he did, and twitched his nose.

Breakfast was simple that morning, with cereal being the meal of choice. The Pearsons did have multiple types of cereal to make sure everyone was pleased. Russel was excited, since he didn't have any classes, he didn't have to carry a bunch of books. He just had his lunch in his backpack.

"All day field trips are the best," he said.

"Can't it be all year?" Susan replied.

"You're just mad you have to be in school all day," Russel said.

"I hope you teacher gives you a paper to write about your field trip," Susan said.

"You are a sick person," Russel replied.

Bobby was eating his cereal and playing with the toy that had come inside.

"Today's going to be bangin' it's all warm," Ricky said.

"I like the cold," Sherry replied.

"You would," Susan replied.

"Boots are fun, they go clomp when you walk," Sherry replied.

"But in warm weather you can wear tank tops and shorts, and walk around without a coat," Susan said.

"Nobody wants to see your arms and legs, Susan," Bobby replied.

"I see more of you than a person should see," Susan said.

"Hey Bobby, do you want your watch?" Lincoln asked.

"Do you want to wear it? I'm going through the park to see if anything cool was under the melted snow, after school, I don't want to get it messy," he said.

"I guess I can wear it," Lincoln said.

"You should have seen Lincoln earlier, he was still ready for winter," Ricky joked.

"Oh, leave Lincoln alone," Susan said.

Calvin came into the dining room. He was holding his coffee mug and looked all the kids.

"Hurry up, we're all about to go," he said.

"Huh, but Dad, it's still early," Ricky replied.

"You can go on your own then," he replied.

"Wait, what's going on?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm driving Russ to school to get him their early to get counted for the field trip, and if anybody else wants a ride, I'm about to go," he said.

"What about Spangles, I can't walk with him to school?" Sherry asked.

"Your mom is taking you, Sweetie," he said.

"Is Mom going the same time as you?" Ricky asked.

"No, she's going a little later," Calvin answered.

"Then, I'll pass your offer, Dad," he replied.

"Ricky, I packed your lunch," Katherine said.

"But I was coming home for lunch," he said.

"Nope, I'm not going to be here; I'm taking Spangles back home, then I'm going out grocery shopping," she said.

"Get Upper 10, Mom, please," Bobby said.

"Yes, yes, I heard you," she said.

"Can I eat at Connie's?" Ricky asked.

"I made you lunch," she said.

"I'll take it," Lincoln said.

"But I already made yours, Lincoln," she replied.

"I know, but it might be tradable," he replied.

"Better than going to waste, I guess, fine," she said.

"Thanks, Lincoln," Ricky said.

"Alright, anybody going with me?" Calvin asked.

"Yeah, I want to!" Bobby shouted.

"I guess, I'll go to," Lincoln said.

"Susan?" Calvin asked.

"Nah, I promised Judith I'd walk with her, she wants to show off her new shoes or something," Susan said.

"Ricky, you are coming with me?" Mrs. Pearson asked.

"Sure, I'll help you with the girl and her friend spot," Ricky said.

"His name is Spangles," Sherry said.

"It's an expression," Ricky said.

"You like S names, maybe name another mouse, Spot," Russel said.

"No way, I'd rather do cool names like Stanley, Scottie, or Skippy," she said.

"How about Susan?" Bobby joked.

"Oh, that would be fun, we could have Susan 2," Sherry said.

"One Susan is too many," Russel said.

"So is one Russel," Susan said.

Lincoln was the first to wait for the others to come to Calvin's car. Calvin had a 1967 Datsun 510, it was dark red. Its mirrors weren't on the doors instead, they were further down on the fenders. Calvin came outside, he unlocked the trunk and opened it.

"Everything was already open, you could have gotten in," he said.

"Oh." Lincoln said

"It's alright, you can put your backpack in the trunk," he replied.

Russel came out with his backpack and put it right in the trunk. He saw Lincoln and smiled.

"You got out here first, Linc, you can take shot gun," he said.

"Uhh, thanks," Lincoln said.

Lincoln opened the passenger door and got inside. Russel opened the back door and sat down. Bobby ran outside he was quick to put his backpack in the trunk and it, then he got in the other side and sat down.

"That was nice of you Russel, to give Lincoln the front," Calvin said.

"I did no such thing, he was out here first," Russel replied.

Calvin smiled without anyone noticing, he quickly changed subjects.

"Alright what station do you want to listen too?" he asked.

The white-haired boy thought for a moment.

"Uh 1020," he replied.

Russel smiled; Lincoln had picked the station he liked listening to frequently. Calvin nodded and turned the radio dial to 1020 AM. Then he started the car and turned on the radio. The weather report was the thing playing on the radio at that moment.

"These morning clouds will give way, to clear skies, the high expected in 77 degrees in Royal Woods, 80 in Hakeltuckey, 78 in Huntington Oaks, 77 in Fern Valley. Don't expect this to last long; overnight, expect rain that turns into snow tomorrow morning, high's in the upper 30's and 40's. That's it for weather now," the weatherman said.

Calvin had started driving.

"So, anything big in school today for you, Lincoln?" he asked.

"Eh, not really, I have a spelling test, and have gym class," Lincoln answered.

"Do you like gym?" Calvin asked.

"Not really," Lincoln said.

"I understand that, it's not really the most fun class, I preferred just do a sport," Calvin replied.

Lincoln was slightly surprised; his father had called gym class a necessary evil, his mother had said it was important to be fit. Calvin Pearson was more diplomatic.

"When I was in middle school, I think 7th grade, we had to a unit of swim classes," Calvin said.

"Cool, swimming at school," Bobby said.

"Eh, it's not as fun as it sounds, it was awkward and uncomfortable," Calvin replied.

"Good thing, we don't have a swimming pool at school," Russel said.

"We also had a swim team at my middle school," Calvin replied.

"Did you join, Mr. Pearson?" Lincoln asked.

"Nah, I didn't want to swim competitively; that, and the coach had his team shave their heads bald," Calvin replied.

Russel put his hands on top his head rubbing his hair.

"Why?" Bobby asked.

"They said something about making the swimmers more dynamic and faster, or something," Calvin explained.

"Interesting," Bobby said.

"I wouldn't want to do that," Russel replied.

"Back then boys had shorter hair, in general, so I guess it wasn't a big difference, but you know, you want style it," Calvin replied.

"That's the half-price sale at Gerry's this Saturday, at the Royal Woods Mall," the commercial on the radio said.

"How about you Bobby, anything interesting in your class happening?" the father asked.

"Yeah, we get to plant seeds in cups," Bobby replied.

"That's fun," Calvin said.

"Yeah, but they have to stay at school for a while," he said.

"So, this is for science?"

"Yep."

"Isn't the spelling bee coming up?"

"Soon, the week after the week of spring break."

"I heard about that," Lincoln said.

"Bobby won the 2nd grade, last year," Russel said.

Bobby had the look of surprise on his face, that his brother seemed to be praising him. Lincoln was impressed as well, none of his siblings or himself had done that well in a spelling bee, well besides, Lisa.

"That was Saturday Night by the Bay City Rollers, this is 1020AM, now he's looking at the Golden Years, here' s David Bowie; the news is coming up," the radio DJ said.

They made it Royal Woods Middle School; Calvin gave his eyes to Russel to get his stuff from the trunk.

"Have a good day, Russ,"; Calvin said.

"Thanks, Pop, have a good day workin'," Russel replied.

"Give me my keys, so I can go," Calvin said.

Lincoln had a normal day; he still couldn't figure out if Audrey had played some elaborate joke or he was able to see the future. The idea to ask her didn't go beyond just being an idea. After school, he went with Audrey and Todd and hung out with them and ended up in an impromptu kick ball game. It wasn't something he would normally get into, but had fun, nonetheless. He made it back home and the Pearsons had ordered Chinese food.

"Lincoln, you should think up something you'd think would be fun to do for spring break," Katherine said.

"I don't think I could be a deciding vote again," Lincoln replied.

"Huh? There's nothing to vote on yet; you should think up something we could do," Calvin replied.

"I could think of something," Lincoln said.

"Tell us what you think up; when you can," Katherine said.

Later that evening, Lincoln was lying in bed; Bobby and he had been reading comic books. The younger boy had already fallen asleep. Lincoln got up and put his comic book away, next, he walked over to Bobby and took the glasses off the boy's face and set them aside on a nightstand. He was able to get the covers and cover Bobby up. Then, he picked up the comic book and set it next to the glasses. In a drawer he grabbed his phone and walked back to his bed and got under the covers.

"Guess, I'll play a game before I get tired." he thought.

He turned off the light and waited for the phone to start up. There was a time it would be on all the time, until it died and needed charging. He was sparing it since he only had the one charger and phone. It wasn't going to exist for 40 years. Eventually, the phone was ready, and he went to look for a game to play, it had to be one that worked offline. He scrolled down the countless applications and to find one that could entertain him and fully work offline. He looked to the top right to see the time of 11:15 PM and, on the left side; was the phone getting an actual working signal?


	17. Chapter 17

Time for another new chapter. Lincoln's phone is working in the year 1976, but there's a catch, especially if you know Lisa Loud. I hope your summer is going well, as it winds down, thanks for reading!

* * *

_**Friday, March 26, 1976**_

For months, the phone had said no signal on the top left of the screen. That was a given since cell towers really didn't exist in the mid 1970's and if they did, they weren't good enough for an advanced phone like his. Lincoln looked around, he was still in the year 1976, Bobby Pearson, was still sleeping next to him in the bed. Unless they both were transported to Lincoln's time. These thoughts ran through his head.

"What do I do?" he thought.

If the phone's signal were working, he could call one of his sisters and get back to his time. He turned on the light to make sure he was awake. Bobby murmured but was still sleep; he moved from his back to his side. Lincoln could see the pigtails that Sherry had put in her older brother's hair, earlier that evening. Carefully, he opened the attic door and climbed down. It was dark in the hallway, but he could some faint voices coming from Ricky's room.

As he got closer the light of the TV was glowing and a rerun of "The Twilight Zone" was airing. Lincoln peaked inside and saw Ricky and Susan sleeping on top of each other on the floor, with a blanket looking like it tangled between the two. He quietly closed the door and wanted to find a spot where he could think. Bobby's room was the logical choice since Bobby was in his room. Lincoln opened the door and closed it behind. Only the glow of the phone lit the room.

"I should be happy, right?" he whispered.

If this had been back in October he would have called by this point. Telling his family that he had time traveled to the year 1975. The stillness of the air and the quiet of the house, except for the faint sounds of the TV in the other room, made him feel tense. In was dark and quiet, so he was noticing the smells. It was the same house he lived in, but the smells were different. The room he was in was or will be, Lynn and Lucy's. When they have it, it will have the smell of gym clothes, sweat, candle wax, and wood from a coffin. It didn't currently smell anything like that.

"If I'm going to try and call and find a way to leave; I'm not going to do it at night in the dark, I want to say goodbye first," he said.

He thought about this family that adopted him into their lives, they had grown attached to him and at the same time he did the same. He had gotten to know them and knew their way of life and ideas. They seemed genuinely happy that he was there, he didn't want to be a burden, and they were interested in him more than just being a person from the future. He heard some footsteps. He pressed the button on his phone to black it out and waited. The footsteps seemed to go to the bathroom's direction, then after a couple minutes come back and disappear.

"I'm not going back, this late," he thought.

He turned off his phone and hoped that maybe it would get the signal again, the next day. Then, he opened Bobby's door, the hallway was dead, and he quietly went back to his room. Bobby had rolled over to the other side of the bed; the covers were a thrashed mess. Lincoln put his phone in the drawer and went into the bed and turned off the lights.

* * *

**_Saturday, March 27, 1976_**

It was 9:45 in the morning, Lincoln woke up, and stretched and yawned, and noticed Bobby had gotten up way before him. The time being what it was, he knew why. He got up from the bed and got dressed into an orange long sleeved shirt and black jeans. He grabbed his phone and turned it on, maybe he dreamed the whole thing? That was his thought. The phone didn't say "No Signal" it wasn't a dream. Instead of calling or texting anybody, he tired something else. The internet browser. If he had pressed it any time since coming to 1975 and 1976, and opened a new tab, he would be met with internet connection not available. When he tried it this time, it was working, the webpage of a search engine loaded.

"It works," he said.

Carefully, he put his phone in his pocket, and put on some socks and shoes. He came downstairs and could hear sounds of a Saturday Morning at the Pearson house, he had grown used to hearing. In the living room, Bobby, Sherry, and a surprise third person, Susan, were watching Saturday Morning TV together. In the kitchen, he could smell pancakes and bacon cooking. Russel was making himself some breakfast. Mr. and Mrs. Pearson sleeping in on Saturday was something he gotten used to as well.

"Good Morning, Linc, you want some breakfast?" the blonde asked.

"Sure," Lincoln said.

"Then make it yourself," Russel said angrily.

Lincoln was surprised until the eldest Pearson child had started laughing.

"You should have seen your face," Russel said.

Lincoln still didn't get Russel's humor, but he didn't get Luan's humor either.

"Don't worry, I'll make you some," he said.

"Thanks," Lincoln said.

"You're dressed pretty quickly for a Saturday morning," Russel said.

Lincoln noticed that Russel was wearing a white long-sleeved t-shirt, red boxers, and white tube socks with red and blue stripes.

"There's somewhere I want to go soon," Lincoln replied.

He wasn't lying there was someone he wanted to talk to about the phone.

"Going to hang out with friends, cool, you really have adjusted living in this time well," Russel replied.

"You sound like your mom," Lincoln replied.

"Dang it, it's starting," Russel replied.

After having breakfast, Lincoln helped Russel with the dishes. The radio was on some station playing instrumental music. It wasn't Russel's style, but there wasn't much on in the morning. Lincoln went into the living room, where Sherry saw him, run up to him, and hugged him.

"Good Morning, Lincoln," she said with excitement.

"Morning, Sherry," he said.

"Did you sleep well?" Susan asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lincoln said.

"I'm sorry, I fell a sleep in your bed," Bobby replied.

"It's fine, you weren't in the way," Lincoln said.

It wasn't even Bobby's first time falling asleep int here. The boy had been able to sleep in a random spot when he got tired enough, well. Lincoln looked out the window, the sky was hard to see in the all the fog, it was gray and raining. The cold weather had returned.

"Are you trying to go somewhere?" Susan asked.

"Huh?" Lincoln asked.

He rubbed the back of his head and thought for a moment. He didn't want to keep something from them but didn't want to tell them about the phone or the chance of getting back to his time, without thinking it out. He did want to go and talk to someone.

"Yeah, I was going to meet with a friend," he answered.

"You might want to wear a coat," Susan said.

"It's going to snow soon too," Sherry said.

"Don't worry, go have fun, we'll tell Mom and Dad, when they wake up, in case they are wondering," Susan said.

It was interesting to Lincoln how they didn't want to pry into what he was doing any further. He was just going to see a friend. All the Pearson kids had to do was tell their mom they were going somewhere, and she'd tell them to be safe and be back before dinner. He put on his coat and switched to boots, in case the snow piled up, and left the house. He walked to Connie's house.

"I'm a lucky fella And I've just got to tell her That I love her endlessly," Connie was singing slightly off key.

The blond hippie child was sitting outside his house with a portable radio. He was sitting on the bench in front of the duplex, on the side his parents lived, wearing shorts, a tank top, and no socks or shoes. Lincoln walked up.

"…And I just gotta say She's really got a magical spell and it's working so well…" Connie sang along with the song.

The boy saw him and turned down the radio.

"Hey Lincoln, nice to see you on an early Saturday Morning," he said.

"Same, aren't you cold like that?" Lincoln asked.

"Not really, I'm used to the cold," he said.

"mmm," said Lincoln.

"Is Ricky with you?" Connie asked.

"No, it's just me, there's something I want to talk with you about," Lincoln said.

"Me?" Connie questioned.

"You are the only one besides the Pearsons who know about my time travel, and there's something I don't want them to know yet," Lincoln said.

"Really? Sit down, sit down, what is it?" Connie asked.

Lincoln sat down and grabbed the phone from his inner coat pocket. He looked at it first to make sure it was still connected. He gulped and thought about how to explain it to Connie.

"The phone?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, the weird thing is last night, I noticed it has a signal now," Lincoln replied.

"A signal?" Connie asked.

The rain started to fall again, the drops hitting the ground could be heard, Lincoln and Connie were sitting under a covered porch.

"The way the phone works; cell towers, and somehow for the first time since I've been here, it worked," Lincoln explained.

"How is that possible, there's no cell towers here, or if there were, I don't think it would work on that," Connie replied.

"I'm not sure, but look, the internet even works," Lincoln said.

"Internet?" Connie asked.

Lincoln pressed the browser app on his phone and let Connie see the search engine. Connie took off his glasses for a second and put them back on.

"You can type in something," Lincoln said.

Connie held the phone carefully, width ways, and tapped the screen. He had seen Lincoln use it enough to figure out how it could be used. He figured out the keyboard would pop up at some point and typed in London. It was a random city that popped into his mind.

"What is this for?" he asked.

"It's for looking up stuff, the internet is widely used in the future," Lincoln said.

"Interesting," he said.

The rain continued to fall, and there were hints of snow beginning to start as well.

"Wanna go inside?" Connie asked.

"Are your parents, home?" Lincoln asked.

"You are worried about the phone; no, my parents are out, they are out selling some things my Mom made," Connie said.

Lincoln nodded.

Connie opened the door to the house, he looked over at the other door of his grandparents' house.

"Next door, my grandparents are home," he said.

They walked inside, Connie was holding the portable radio, Lincoln had the phone. Lincoln took of his coat and boots.

"We can go to my room," Connie said.

"Sure," Lincoln said.

Lincoln had only seen Connie's other room; he had never seen the room in this house. He just heard from Connie that he had two different rooms. They walked up the stairs, Lincoln saw pictures on the wall. Connie's door was painted purple, there was a pink sign that said Connie's room. This room had a large bed, with green bed covers, green sheets, and pink pillow covers, one pillow had a purple cover. Compared to his other room, this one had nothing matching, and much brighter colors. Like that room, he had his own TV. He set the portable radio down on a bookshelf. There was a large collection of books. He had more comic books in this room as well. There was a lava lamp on his desk.

"Your room is very, colorful," was the word Lincoln could think up.

"Thank you, to be honest, my Mom is the reason why there's different colors in here," he said.

"Must be fun to have two different bedrooms, huh?" Lincoln asked.

"It's alright, I guess," he replied.

Connie pushed his bed close to the wall, and walked out of the room for a second, then came back dragging two bean bag chairs.

"We can use these to sit on," he said.

"Cool," Lincoln said.

They got back to the issue about the phone.

"What did you want to tell me? There was more than just the phone doing whatever you said it was doing, right?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking, maybe it was something Lisa, one of my sisters, did, she is a genius," Lincoln said.

"That would explain, why it's working, they are trying to find you, after all," Connie said.

"Wait, seem to be understanding this better than I thought," Lincoln said.

"Once you convince someone about time travel, it makes it easier to accept any other far out things," Connie replied.

"Maybe I could call one of my sisters and tell them, I'm here," Lincoln said.

Connie's face was stoic, the room got quiet. Lincoln was waiting for him to say something or give an impression what he was thinking. In the window, snow was landing and melting.

"There's a reason you haven't called already," Connie said.

Lincoln looked right into Connie's eyes; there he could see some that Connie was understanding something without him saying it.

"You've grown accustomed to our faces," Connie said.

"Huh?" Lincoln asked.

"You've been here for months, at least in time travel theory, and you've grown close to the Pearsons, and now you are unsure if you want to leave," Connie replied.

"How did you know that?" Lincoln asked.

Connie got up from his beanbag chair and grabbed a book from the shelf. It was a blue hardcover book with gold writing.

"I got this book from a Library sale, when they were exchanging out old copies for newer ones," he said, "It's about a guy who uses a time machine and goes to the future, there he falls in love with this woman, and now he doesn't know if he wants to go back, or stay with the woman he loves."

"That's not my situation," Lincoln muttered.

"No, but you did fall in love with being in this time," Connie said.

"I do miss my sisters, my friends, my video games," Lincoln said.

Connie flopped his body on to the bed, and threw the book, softly, next to him, and rolled over. His hair became a mess, with parts of it standing up.

"If you are going to ask me what you should do, I'm not going to be of any help," he replied.

"Why not?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm stuck, I would miss you, because you have become a friend to me, you did trust me with the fact you are from the future; at the same time, I know you should be with your family in your own time," Connie explained.

"The other thing was I wasn't going to go back until, I say goodbye to the Pearson's, and you first," Lincoln replied.

"Can I see that thing again?" Connie asked.

"I guess, be…" Lincoln was cut off my Connie.

"That phrase jinxes everything," Connie replied.

Lincoln heard some sounds coming from the phone. He turned his head wondering what Connie was doing.

"She ain't got no money, clothes are kind of funny, her hair is kind of wild and free..." Connie sang off key.

Connie was playing music on the phone; it was a song that Lincoln didn't have saved. Lincoln soon realized it was the same song Connie was listening too and singing with earlier.

"I didn't know you had this song," Connie said.

"Nope, I think you are streaming it," Lincoln replied.

"Streaming?" Connie asked.

"Yeah, the music is from the internet and you picked it, and are able to listen to it, thanks to the internet," Lincoln explained.

"Is that possible with any song?" Connie asked.

"Pretty much, there might be some songs missing," Lincoln replied.

"Strange that it's working now, after all this time," Connie said.

"You like that song, don't you?" Lincoln asked.

"It reminds me of my Mom playing it when I was little, when I couldn't sleep," Connie replied.

"Oh, that song 's not new for you?" Lincoln asked.

"Nah, it's a few years old," Connie replied.

Connie tapped a few more things. Lincoln heard another song, that was familiar. "Convoy" played on his phone. He had heard that song because Sherry seemed to have fallen in love with and would start singing it at random times.

"Could you stop playing that song, please?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure, why though, you don't like truckers?" Connie asked.

"No, it's Sherry and she," Lincoln started to say.

"I get it now," Connie said.

Connie pressed the pause button. Good thing, the symbols in the future are the same as the past. He looked around the phone and pressed an app, that had a logo with pictures on it. This was one different to the one Lincoln had used to show pictures before.

"Lincoln, this has more pictures in it," he said.

"Huh?" Lincoln asked.

Connie handed him the phone, and he noticed that was the app that would back up pictures from the phone.

"This is the cloud back up app," Lincoln replied.

"Cloud, you can control the weather?" Connie asked.

Lincoln laughed.

"You sound like my Dad; the cloud is where you can back up files, so if your phone gets damaged, or accidently delete all your pictures on your computer, you can have them saved without any problems," Lincoln explained.

"Unless your internet isn't working," Connie replied.

"Well, I, sure," Lincoln said.

Lincoln decided to make sure the pictures he took without the internet were backed up, just in case, and to make room on his phone.

"Come on Connie, take a picture with me," Lincoln said.

The phone sat there on Connie's bed. The two boys didn't know what to do really do. The answer should have been easier, like Lincoln just calls his family and he work it out to make sure he could say goodbye to everyone, grab anything he can and go. That would be the logical thing to do, but logic wasn't the only thing in play.

"How about you call her just to see if it works," Connie said.

Connie held up the phone it was on the contact for Lynn.

"She'll know I'm calling, and then what?" Lincoln asked.

"Disguise your voice?" Connie asked.

"That's right, you don't know about caller id, If I call her, she'll know it's me," Lincoln said.

"You can't do prank calls, in the future?" Connie asked.

"I guess not," Lincoln said.

"That's disappointing," Connie said.

"I could just tell her that I'm fine; they should at least know I'm not laying down dead somewhere," Lincoln said.

"Wait, let my try something," Connie replied.

Connie poked around the phone and asked Lincoln how does one dial a call that's not a person. In that very way, and Lincoln showed him the dial pad, still confused at what Connie was doing. Connie dialed a number and waited for it finish.

"Hello, Grandma?" He asked.

Lincoln's mouth dropped open, as he wondered what the hippy child was doing.

"Yeah, this is Connie, is today, March 27, 1976?" Connie asked.

"I'm a kid, I'm afforded the right to be silly," he continued.

"The reason why I called was because I knew you were cleaning the carpets and didn't want to disrupt your wet floors."

"Well, I have a friend over, can he come over too?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in 8 minutes, thanks Grandma, bye."

Connie set the phone on his bed and got up and stretched.

"What was that?" Lincoln asked.

"I was trying to call Grandma in the future, but I got Grandma in the present," Connie explained.

"Wait, you got the house next door?" Lincoln questioned.

"Yep," Connie replied.

"If that's the case, shouldn't the internet not be working?" Lincoln asked.

Connie walked over to his desk and grabbed a brush and brushed his hair.

"You think your little sister had something to do with the phone working?" he asked.

"Yeah, Lisa is a certified genius," Lincoln said.

The white-haired boy thought for a moment, Lisa was a genius but sometimes forgets minor details in her work. She may have found a way to get the phone to work, but didn't get the phone to call the future, that part is stuck in the present.

"Wait, I could try calling my house in the future," Lincoln said.

"I thought you caller, whatever you called it," Connie replied.

"Our land line doesn't, we don't use it much, it came with our cable," Lincoln said.

"Alright then," Connie said.

Lincoln called the phone number to his house and waited for it to ring. He wasn't sure what was going to happen or what he was going to say. Maybe he would just hang up after just hang up after hearing his sister's or parent's voice. It would be nice to hear at least one of them again.

"The number you dialed, is not in service," a voice said.

Lincoln hung up his phone.

"I'm sorry, Lincoln," Connie said.

Lincoln flopped down into the bean bag chair. He let the phone be on Connie's bed. Connie grabbed it and started dialing a phone number. Lincoln saw and wondered what the hippy child was doing. All Connie did was smile and clear his throat.

"Hello, this is Patty, Is this the Parson residence?" Connie asked in a fake southern girl accent.

"No, this is the Pearson residence," Russel Pearson said on the side.

Lincoln heard Russel's voice and got more alert.

"That's a shame, I must have looked at the phone book wrong, I'm new to your little ole town, I'm from Macon, Georgia," Connie said.

"Well, I guess you got a wrong number," Russel said.

"You sound cute, what's your name?" Connie asked.

"Russel," Russel replied.

"How old are you? I'm almost 13," Connie said.

"I'm 13," Russel replied.

"Ah cool, I would love to meet a nice mid-western boy," Connie replied.

"You do sound sweet yourself," Russel replied.

"Ah you are giving me the blushes," Connie said, "I like your voice, could you sing for me?"

"Sing?" Russel questioned.

"Yeah, sing to me, Something Stupid, you know the song?" Connie asked.

"I'm not really wanting to sing," Russel replied.

"That's a shame, I was thinking you sounded cute, and we could meet up, but I need a boy who also can sing, it's a southern thing," Connie said.

He was resisting the urge to start laughing, he had to clear his throat again to make sure, he didn't slip back to his normal voice.

"I know I stand in line, until you think…" Russel started to sing the song.

Connie covered the bottom of the phone and started to quietly giggle. Russel only knew part of the song and repeated some lines multiple times. Connie just let the phone lay on the bed as he heard him sing.

"That was sweet of you, my Ma, is calling me, this snow is my first snow," Connie said, "Call you later, Darling."

Connie started to laugh louder after he had hung up.

"What was that?" Lincoln asked.

"A Prank call," Connie said.

Lincoln rolled his eyes but did laugh slightly. He looked at Bobby's watch on his wrist and looked back at Connie.

"When is eight minutes up?" he asked.

"Yeah, let's go next door for lunch," Connie replied.

"So, how did that book, anyway?" Lincoln asked.

"The man found out that woman was his great grand daughter and he had to get back to his time, or she wouldn't be born," Connie answered.

The two boys went next door to have lunch with Connie's grandparents.


End file.
